Gold & Silver REDO
by Owari
Summary: Ezio travels to Istanbul and his twin sons decide to follow him, they get lost but luckily they stumble upon the son of Yusuf Tazim and he offers to guide them. Only, Ezio's younger son wants guidance of a differant nature and finds the stranger very willing to help with that too. Yaoi, kind of AU, Have a read and leave a review please.
1. Chapter 1

((Do you think you have read this before? It's mostly because you have and I have changed a lot of things. Now I know people do not like commenting but it would help me out to get your take on the Revamped chapter so I can know I'm not screwing it up completely))

Ezio frowned a little as he realised that out of all the Assassin Recruits who had come to see him off, none of them were his sons. He expected to see his eldest at the very least or even a glimpse of his younger son amongst the loyal friends he would miss sorely – but he could not see their faces in the small crowd. "Claudia, are you sure you can handle this rowdy bunch for so long a time? It is not a few months, Sister, it could be a few years...you will listen to Machiavelli, Si?"

"I swear, Ezio!" Claudia exclaimed as she threw up her hands, "I have run your accounts for how long? I can handle this lot and The Rose just fine...and Machiavelli can kiss my - " The Master Assassin pulled the younger woman into a hug before she could finish, mostly because the man she was about to insult was behind her and mostly because he would miss her whilst he was in Constantinople. She held him back just as tightly, "Be careful out there, Ezio, you are not as young as you think you are..." stroking his bearded jaw, Claudia gave him a weak smile, "I wish you would take a few of your Recruits with you, even Matteo or Giovanni – they are desperate to go with you and it would be an excellent opportunity for them to meet and build bonds with the Ottoman Assassins."

With a frustrated heave the Assassin gave his sister a stern look, "No, Claudia, no. They are young, I do not want to get killed in a foreign land because I am constantly worrying for them, they are staying here and will train...maybe when I return we can discuss sending them on higher profile missions."

'Maybe' usually meant 'Never' when Ezio referred to his sons. It was not a case of they were not skilled Assassins, they were more skilled than most, and it was not the case of they were children, they would be twenty years old in few months time. It was because they were his children that he was so protective, it was because he had so little family left, his sister and his sons, and if he had to hold them back and coddle them and tell them where they could go and who they could talk to...then that is what he would do until his dying day. "I know they are angry that I am doing this alone but it is for their own good and the good of the Brotherhood; it is my duty alone."

"We are not angry..." Ezio's eyes widened slightly at the two figures coming out of the shadows and to either side of Claudia. Both were just shy of towering over their father's height, another inch or two and they would officially be taller than him, which would be annoying, both were in their everyday clothes and that was enough for Ezio to understand their lateness. They were fresh out of a brothel, probably overslept and too tardy to change into their hooded uniforms before running to the dock – by the way they were huffing and puffing with their usually tan skin slightly reddened, they had run pretty damn fast. "Sorry, Papa," One of the young men stepped forward to embrace him with a firm squeeze, "We were worried we had missed you."

Smiling fondly, Ezio pulled him a little closer, "You like to make your old man worry, Matteo, you know I am getting too old for such things, right?" They laughed at what was blatant lies, as Ezio pushed his oldest away to arms length he found another body against him in a much more restrained hug, "I was getting to you, Giovanni." The embrace was gone as fast as it had come and now he found himself eye to eye with his children, thinking how it was ridiculous for them to look so like he did when he was seventeen, something his mother had liked very much before she had died. They wore their hair as he had before he'd cut his shorter, the silky strands were a darker brown than his had ever been, a trait from their mother, both were handsome, their golden eyes mischievous and their very presence oozed with charm. The only other difference they held from his teenage self was that they were not as broad as he had been, their faces were softer and their bodies better for stealth and speed than brawling like idiots as he and Federico had been. "I wish you two would stop growing, at least until I return to Roma...can you do that?"

"Sorry, Papa." Matteo grinned easily, "When you come back, not only will your sons still be the most attractive twins in all Italia but also taller than you."

"...I will have to stop slouching if that happens," the ship behind him began ringing its bell to notify the passengers that it would be leaving soon, "I need to go but promise me something; promise me that you will stay safe and you will not follow me."

Matteo huffed slightly, "I promise I will not follow you to Constantinople."

000

Matteo turned in a small circle, his arms thrown out as he gave a satisfied look to his twin, "Here we are! Constantinople, I told you we could trust that Captain!" He seemed proud of himself, straightening his robes out until he felt they were presentable and grinning like a fool, "Papa is going to be surprised!"

His brother looked at the ship they had just left with disdain, he moved his hands in a flurry, to anyone else it looked like Giovanni was just waving his hands about in the air but Matteo rolled his eyes, "It is not a pirate ship, they were traders..." another flurry of gestures, "I did not sell us into slavery! This is Constantinople," Giovanni stared at the other in horror, he did know what they'd been doing didn't he? How much trouble they were in? The ship they were on didn't have anything to trade until after they'd sacked another ship – Their father was going to kill them! Matteo blinked in confusion, looking up innocently at his twin, "Stop worrying...no...what? Papa is not going to 'kill us, bring us back with that apple thing and kill us again'." With one last huff, Giovanni pointed at his twin and drew his finger across his throat, Matteo shrugged, "But we are in Constantinople."

Giovanni shook his head.

"No? Brother, this is Constantinople." The nice Captain had told him so.

Another shake of the younger twin's head.

Matteo's shoulders slumped a little, "Alright, I admit it does look a little like...China?" Obviously they were not so far east, perhaps a short sail a little further would lead them to Constantinople, taking hold of his brother's shoulders and giving a wry smile, Matteo said, "Look, I have a little coin left, we can get a room at an inn tonight and tomorrow we can do a little pick pocketing for a proper ticket on a proper ship that is going to Constantinople. Deal?" Matteo smiled gently as his brother agreed readily, the annoyance in his amber eyes lessened.

00

It had been pure chance that they had gotten onto a ship heading for Constantinople, they had been scouting at the docks when a raggedy sailor had offered them money to help man a ship – headed in the same direction their father had gone a little under two months before. Matteo had promised not to follow his father...he never promised not to follow his brother though, and his brother was mute, so he never actually made the promise not to follow their father in the first place. So with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a hastily written message to their Aunt Claudia they were on their way.

They were in a modest little inn, paid for in stolen coins and charming smiles,

"Excuse me," Giovanni looked up to see one of the bar girls smiling at him from the doorway, "Did you need anything bringing to the room? I noticed that you were both a little haggard and that your brother...oh..." she lowered her voice a little upon realising that Matteo was sound asleep with his head on his twin's lap, "Looked very tired." she stood a little awkwardly for a moment, not sure what to do with a man who could not speak, "Um...Oh, are these the clothes you need washing? Can I take them?" At his nod she smiled and bundled the clothing up into her arms, "Would you like anything else..from me?" The young man didn't miss the hint in her voice of what she was offering; had his brother been awake the cad would have taken her up on the offer. She was pretty, a little older than him but pleasing to look at but he didn't want a whore for the night, "You scholars are too gentlemanly, I am going to stop offering to men in these particular robes." he tilted his head a little at her disappointed comment, "Hm? Oh, Dev, someone who stays here, he wears these too," She proffered up the clothing in her arms, "I recognise the pointed hood, the styles are a little different and the material too...he always turn me down even when I am just checking on him...he comes back injured a lot...dock workers." She shrugged to herself and wandered out without another word.

"Did you hear that?" Looking down, Giovanni caught his brother's sleepy gaze and nodded whilst bringing the hand that had been stroking the other's hair up, a few careful gestures were made and in just a few graceful movements of his fingers Giovanni could see his brother thinking hard, "Si, you make a good point, Vanni, it does sound like there is another Assassin here but what do we do?" shrugging a little, the younger twin clasped his hands together as if he were clapping hands with a fellow Assassin, "Make friends with him, eh? Alright, it makes sense, maybe they can give us directions or something." Matteo got up from and stretched a little, straightening out his cotton shirt as he meandered to the door, "We just have to look for someone who looks like a member of the Brotherhood."

The first place they searched was the bar downstairs, it was a far cry from La Volpe's inn back in Roma where they had actually felt quite safe around the thieves, it was clean enough but it was poorly lit, the dark wood of the buildings structure doing nothing to help and they struggled slightly against the sea of dock workers and whores. "I do not see anyone with a hood..." Matteo said quietly to his twin as they met back in the middle, Giovanni rolled his eyes and pointed to their own lack of hooded robes, "You make a valid point...how about we split up and knock on the doors upstairs?"

Rubbing his face in slight irritation, Giovanni wondered if his brother had always been this stupid or if he was practising for something. Knock on people's doors and then what? Sure, Matteo could spin some tale about having the wrong room or if they had seen his lost kitten but Giovanni didn't feel he could pull it off – he didn't speak! He'd be punched out for knocking on someone's door and not saying anything. Matteo put his hands on him and smiled sheepishly, "I will ask about my lost cat upstairs, you return to our room and wait for me." With that, his brother disappeared up the stairs again and left him to his own devices; well thanks for that, dick.

As he ascended the stairs he wondered if this supposed Assassin was even in the building, there were many nights that he was never at home and instead on a rooftop scouting. Or in the Brothel with his twin, they never went to their Aunt's brothel though – that would just be strange – usually Matteo would spend the night in some woman's bed whilst Giovanni sat on the buildings roof...because he really wasn't interested in the women there. Of course his brother didn't know this piece of information. "Sorry, have you seen my kitten? He got out of my bag whilst I was in the bar...no? ...Are you married?" Unbelievable – well, no, very believable actually. Giovanni tried to catch his brother's eye before he managed to charm himself into the woman's room, had he forgotten the possible ally in lieu of a pretty face already? A discreet 'go away' hand signal was made and Giovanni huffed indignantly before unlocking the door to their room and entering.

The youngest Auditore found himself staring at a stranger in the room, they were rummaging through the meagre possessions that had been left in the bedside drawer, stopping instantly the second Giovanni shut the door behind himself and rose a fine eyebrow as if to say, 'Can I help you?' The stranger had the decency to shut the drawer and turn to face him, that still didn't excuse the break in, even if this was probably the mysterious 'Dev' they had been looking for. He was the same height as the twins, his body a little broader, though Giovanni had a feeling that there was a bit of bulk to the man's robes that perhaps made the man seem bigger than he was, he wore the robes of an Assassin, a slight variation of the Italian style, more intricate with the designs on all the trimmings, the peak of his hood bore similar stitching and instead of a red sash about his middle was a turquoise sash, though that had blood slowly bleeding into it. It also appeared that his robes were a light mocha colour as opposed to the favoured white but what really stuck out was the flat, metal mask covering the man's face. "Do not yell."

Of all the things for the stranger to say it was telling a mute man not to yell. Giovanni's eyebrow rose just that little bit higher. "You know what I am and I know what you are, we may be of different Brotherhoods but our goals are the same, evet? Think of me as a nosy brother who has come to rifle through your belongings to make sure you are in fact a brother." He knew he was freaking the other out by not speaking and that gave him a strange sort of satisfaction, well, he assumed the awkward silence and stance from the other meant he was freaked out because Giovanni couldn't see his face to confirm it. "Um...I am...Devrim Tazim, I am from the Ottoman Brotherhood of Istanbul or Constantinople as you may know it." The silence remained and the Italian could see the tension in the other as he broke into more words, the Italian seemed a little strained on Devrim's tongue and Giovanni was certain this man had learned his language but never really had to practice it, "You are...?" a gloved hand made circles in the air as he waited for a response, "Oh, come on. I know I am understandable...are you mad that I was going through your stuff? What if I promise never to shove my hand in your trousers again?"

Giovanni snorted in amusement, the man probably meant he would never go through his drawers again but it was funny none the less. Walking further into the room, the Italian, still shaking his head as he chuckled silently to himself, went about stoking the fireplace and placing the kettle over it. He left his guest standing like an idiot as he went about making the room comfortable to sleep in, it was nearing midnight after all. "...Are you going to say anything?" Giovanni rolled his amber eyes at the masked Assassin before pointing to the growing stain of blood on his robes and making an up motion as an order to remove the clothing, "What? It is just a knick from a spear, I can tend to it myself...seriously though, say something to me, I do know a lot about your culture but in mine you are being a little rude."

"Says the man covering his face." Both Giovanni and Devrim startled a little, neither having heard Matteo come in until he had spoken. "You should have whistled, Vanni. I got worried when you did not lock the door behind you." Matteo sat down in the nearest chair, tugging off his boots as if having an armed, stranger a few feet away wasn't a big deal, "Why are you in our room?"

"You are twins..." A different silence settled in the room, one where two identical sets of eyes stared – really stared – at the intruder. They watched the man squirm, imagining that the face beneath the mask had heated up in embarrassment, he cleared his throat, foot scuffing the floor slightly, "That was obvious...As I was telling your brother, my name is Devrim and I am from the Istanbul branch."

"Oh, well we were hoping for someone from Constantinople..."

This time it was Giovanni and Devrim looking at him like he had plague. Giovanni gained Matteo's attention quickly, holding out his right hand, palm down with his fingers wriggling, then arching his left hand over it until he got an understanding nod from the other, then making a little 'equals' sign in the air before pausing to think and finally pointed to his eye, then to his feet and finally bringing his hands to his head with his index fingers pointing outwards like horns. It took a couple of seconds but Matteo let out a long, 'ooooooh' before brightening up, "Constantinople is Istanbul."

Devrim seemed at a loss, "What was that all about? What is," he pointed to his eye, then his feet and then copied the little horns, "Supposed to mean...are you two using code? We are on the same side, you know, I spotted you two earlier in full Assassin regalia..."

"You do not see too well out of that mask, eh?" Matteo stood up, practically swaggering toward his brother before slipping an arm around his twin's shoulders, "Your eye, that is for 'I', as in, 'I went out. Your feet, you are standing still so that means 'stand' and the nifty little horns stand for 'bull'. Add them together and you get..."

"I – stand – bull...Ah! Istanbul!" The Assassin said nearly in excitement, "Then the one before was for the ship yard for Constantinople. But there is not bridge over the water, my friends."

Giovanni blinked, wasn't Leonardo supposed to be making a bridge to go over the golden horn? Then again, when did Leonardo finish anything... "Details." Matteo said with little care, "But to clear things up a little. I am Matteo Auditore Da Venezia and this is my brother Giovanni: He is mute."

Feeling eyes on him, even through the mask, Giovanni suppressed a shiver at the attention that was being paid to him now, gloved hands came up to the mocha hood and pulled it back along with removing the mask, "I feel like a fool." The comment was accompanied by a charming smile on the man's face, "I hope you will forgive me if I offended you." Giovanni couldn't help but shiver this time; the man's eyes were beautiful. He was attractive too, a more rugged attractiveness than the twins own and those near silver eyes just made Devrim Tazim the most gorgeous man Giovanni had ever seen. His dark hair was just shy of resting on his shoulders, falling in messy waves about his face, that strong, handsome face with a completely edible, stubbled jaw...Giovanni took a sharp intake of breath as he quickly chased those thoughts away. He needed to stop staring at the darkly tanned man like he wanted to eat him and let his brother handle things.

"If he did not like you, you would be dead," Matteo said whilst Giovanni got to work on making drinks, "You are injured, let Vanni patch you up and then we would appreciate your help."

"It is not a big deal..."

"I see." Matteo gave a great sigh, pouting ever so slightly and making Giovanni have to hold in a snort at the dramatics, "He sneaks into our room, gives you hassle, fratello mio, then refuses to get medical treatment from a qualified - " A vicious jab hit him in the ribs, "Ow, ow...Alright. A nearly qualified Dottore to help him." He made a show of walking to the only unoccupied chair in the room and collapsing into it, "He does not trust us, Vanni."

It was Devrim's turn to look mildly insulted, "Oh your poor, little Italian heart must be broken."

"Shattered."

The younger twin nearly said, 'please, god, yes' when Devrim replied with a playful, "And getting naked will mend it again?"

"Letting us help you will mend it. We are all fighting the same war and be honest with me – would you not be upset if one of us refused your help?" The victory was obvious to the Auditore when Devrim stood to remove the sash, undo the robe and pull up the cotton shirt beneath, "You realise there is metal in that wound, right? What were you doing before you decided to climb in through our window?"

Giovanni gently made Devrim sit again, kneeling by his side to better see the damage, he already had a damp cloth in hand to clear away some of the dried blood. He had been right, the Turk was not as bulky as he seamed, he was lean and strong, just slightly more toned than he was and his muscled jumped every time Giovanni put his hands on him, "I actually did not realise I was carrying a spearhead around with me...could you maybe be a little more gentle?" He was completely ignored as the younger man pressed against the wound, paying no mind to the pained whine as he dug into skin and muscle to retrieve the metal sliver, "A-ah...I...I was tying up a few loose ends – Ow! Give me a second." Giovanni tensed as the man's hand wrapped around his wrist, stopping him from pulling the metal out any further, looking up, gold met silver and Giovanni shivered again, "I am a terrible patient, can you just yank it out?"

Matteo leaned over with a smirk, "Would you like me to hold your hand?"

"Would you like me to punch you in the face – _Acaip cehennem_!" During the distraction, Giovanni had taken the chance to tear the offending object from the Assassin's body and was now pressing hard against the renewed bleeding. Despite the angry, also quite obscene, swearing in Turkish and pained breaths, Giovanni thought the man took it quite well and pat his thigh before getting up to find his leather pouch. "Butcher." He flashed a toothy grin at Devrim, coming back with a needle and thread.

000

As it turned out, Devrim Tazim was very easy to get information from once he had realised that Ezio was their father; it had taken him a while to remember the significance of the name 'Auditore'. He had informed them that he had passage on a ship for Constantinople, a two month long trip that had been fully booked for more than a week. Fortunately he was willing to share his cabin with them, feed them and get them back to their father in one piece because as far as Devrim was concerned; he needed all the help he could get. He'd been in Cyprus for over a year collecting evidence for a very serious plot against the royalty in his country, a Templar led plan that would cause chaos and quite possibly kill the best, future, Sultan they would ever had. Plans, maps, correspondences, contacts and some references to some sort of library, they were all sealed away in a parchment tube that had been sealed ridiculously tight and kept close to the Assassin at all times. It had to get to the Ottoman Brotherhood – straight into Yusuf Tazim's hand.

They got on the ship easy enough, no one really questioning the two extra passengers with the Turk as the crew seemed more interested in the large supply of gunpowder being loaded, "That is more explosive powder than I ever want to see," Matteo commented as he helped secure his brother's hammock in the cramped cabin, "Though I did see a couple of things I did want to see more of," Giovanni made an hour glass shape in the air, a wry smile on his lips as he rolled his eyes, "They were very pretty and I have not had a woman in a month, fratello, a month! How can you stand it? Come with me to help them with their luggage and maybe we can both get some action tonight." Devrim chuckled at the signed answer, he couldn't tell exactly what was said but it was definitely a negative and then the older twin was looking at him, "What about you? I hate not having a wing man – maybe I can give you some wooing tips."

"I am not really interested in any of the women in this ship and I am very capable of getting anything I desire; maybe I could give you some tips." He had already begun pulling things out of his pack so didn't see Matteo huffing slightly, "I would prefer to be a few miles from shore before I explore the ship, go find a pretty girl, Matteo, you can brag about it later."

"Fine, fine, I will consider it an early birthday present to myself."

"It is your birthdays?" Devrim asked in surprise. "I would have baked you a cake."

Matteo shook his head, "No, it is at the end of this month but I like to treat myself." The Italian threw his robes into his hammock and undid a few buttons on the silk shirt he wore beneath, "And you need to bake two cakes as our birthdays are a day apart, ciao amico!"

Before Devrim could say another word he was gone, "You two are just strange." For a while the two Assassins organised their belongings, well, Devrim organised and Giovanni hid his more obvious weapons amounst the beams across the ceiling. The Turk felt eyes on him as he went about his business, it was a feeling that usually had him on edge but the Auditore's eyes were welcome. He was a little shy, the communication between them was going to be difficult, he was full of potential though, Devrim was not blind to the way Giovanni looked at him; it was a hungry look and everything about the Assassin seemed to scream 'want'.

"Sooo...any reason you are not joining your brother in the hunt for women?"

"...," Giovanni looked at a loss, his hands twitching as he fought his instincts to answer with them, instead he frowned unhappily and turned his back on Devrim to remove his robe, throwing it with his twin's.

"I can lip read or find paper and ink. You are far too interesting not to talk to." Devrim got up from the only actual bed in the cabin, walking until he was a little too close for Giovanni to find comfortable and forcing the other to take a step back. "And you must want to convey something to me, I mean...all the staring you do when you think I can not see."

Giovanni took a few more steps away, avoiding the hand reaching out to touch him, the skin between his brows scrunched up as his back hit the rough wall of the cabin – he pressed his hands against Devrim's chest and mouther quite clearly, 'What are you doing?!'

Devrim grinned, "Looking at you. Returning the favour as it were because whilst you were staring at me; I could not look at you." And he was doing just that, admiring the way a blush slowly crept upon tanned skin, he was just the tiniest bit shorter than the Turk, perfect for him to notice pupils dilating in honey coloured eyes and fell sure enough to rest his hand on the Italian's hip. "You are quite beautiful for a man," the blush intensified but Giovanni was rolling his eyes, "No? How about..._Gözlerin çok güzel_," They were close enough that Giovanni's shiver ran through them both, "Hmm, I see you can understand me, is it my language or my voice that makes you hot? Either one, I do not care, I am going to kiss you now."

The younger man's eyes doubled in size and he shook his head side to side vigorously. He wasn't physically trying to stop Devrim though and the hands on the Turk's chest had curled into the mocha robes; it wasn't much of a protest. The Italian's lips were pliant and his mouth was hot and delicious and surprisingly, to Devrim anyway, inexperienced. A strangled sound came from the man and he pushed his body up against him only to pull away as if the length of their bodies tight together had burned. Turning his head to the side, Giovanni shook it again, his lips moving frantically, the few words that Devrim could decipher were, 'No' and 'We are men'.

"You kissed me back. I do not really need more proof to know we have the same wants." His fingers rested on the Auditore's jaw, gently bringing them nose to nose before stealing a chaste kiss, "Have you ever been with a woman?" Giovanni seemed reluctant to answer at first, his blush deepening, "I am going to take your silence as a no." The glare he received was magnificent and Devrim had to laugh, "How about a man – surely if you have not bedded a woman then you must have been with a man?" Fingers pulled at the fastenings of the high collared shirt Giovanni wore, lips brushing against the skin being revealed, followed by a knee pressing firmly against the interested bulge in the Italian's trousers, "Have I surprised you with how quick I have made my move? I should tell you that I am a little impatient for things I want and with the blatant attention you have been giving me – it is clear you want this from me, do you not?" Moaning quietly, Giovanni's head fell back against the beam to allow lips to trail beneath his chin, coarse stubble scraping against his throat, "Such pretty moans, Giovanni, I would like to find out what other sounds I can draw from you, will you allow me to find out?" He was grinding down against Devrim's thigh; seemingly more and more excited with every question the Turk asked until he was quivering and tangling his fingers in dark, wavy hair. Devrim chuckled, sending vibrations through the other as he began suckling against the skin of his neck, "As you wish, _güzel_. I promise to be gentle with you,"

His teeth scraped over Giovanni's neck, catching on a shallow ridge and before the Turk could figure out what it had been he found himself shoved forcefully away, hard enough to send him sprawling onto the floor. "W-What are you...doing...?" his words died quickly in surprise as he saw the other sink to the floor, his right hand clasped firmly around the left side of his neck as if he'd been attacked. He looked...frightened? "Giovanni?"

"...I...I...sorry...I just...j-just..." harsh, shallow breaths made there way through kiss plumped lips, mangling the gravelly, quiet words being – painfully, thought Devrim – forced out.

"You can speak..." He crawled forward until he was knelt over the younger man, his hand resting on a shaking shoulder and lamenting at the loss of the heat and passion in this body just seconds ago, "What did I do wrong? Please, tell me...or show me or write it to me – I do not care just let me fix it." He sounded so desperate, Giovanni must have thought so to because he compliantly, if not a little dazedly, turned his head to the side, exposing the jagged, white scar that started from just under his left ear to his Adams apple and baring a light mark where Devrim's teeth had been. "Fuck. I – I did not know...I hurt you, I am so, so sorry."

Giovanni was shaking his head, covering Devrim's mouth to stop the apologies, "Just...b...bad mem – memories." It was at that moment in which Matteo had waltzed in through the door, excitement all over his face as if desperate to tell them about his latest conquest, he seemed to not understand why they were on the floor for the longest time before his smile dropped and his eyes darkened.


	2. Chapter 2

((Quick note because people read Author's notes about as much as they comment: I am actually trying to write this where one character is telling the story but not in first person...so their feelings and thoughts as opposed to everyone's – a little something I read in writing story tips. It is hard! So if you see 000 that means a complete scene or day change. 00 slight change or time change and 0 means that it is the same scene but a different character view...yeah...Stop judging me!))

Matteo had asked his twin if he would be alright and at the wide eyed nod had seemed to deflate a little but then he was grasping hold of Devrim's hood and yanking him out of the cabin to the narrow corridor, "What did you do?" the Turk's back hit the wall and he let out a soft 'oof' at the impact, "Do not even think about lying to me because I know that look on his face – you touched his scar. Why?" Devrim narrowed his eyes at the Auditore, they weren't touching and there was plenty of room for the Turk to simply brush past but there was a warning in the other man's tone that made it clear he would not allow such a thing.

"It was an accident." Devrim said quietly, "The button of his shirt was stuck and I feared he would tear it off in frustration; I know for a fact that the two of you have precious little to wear. Your brother always seems so nervous around me and I thought I could help him to show friendship." That wasn't a complete lie, in fact none of it was a lie from Devrim's perspective of things, "It was a tough little button but we got it undone, I started to straighten out his collar and must have brushed against it, he knocked me to the floor...naturally I was worried. Am worried."

Matteo's glare softened a little, his frown remaining as he seemed to turn the explanation around and around in his head until finally taking a step back and leaning against the opposite wall, "Si...I believe you. Forgive my anger; I am an older brother."

"It is an older brothers duty to protect their siblings...I have four little brothers and a sister, I understand."

"Good, because it will be an awkward journey if you did not." He rubbed at his forehead for a moment, obviously still unhappy though placated, "Giovanni is shy, if he seems nervous than it is because he is unsure of what to do, our friends in Roma are either our father's friends who have watched us grow or their own children who we grew up with. Vanni is not good with new people; it is difficult with no voice."

"I heard him speak." A pained cringe shot across Matteo's features along with a string of curses, "It must be painful for him...or at least, it sounds painful for him to speak. He said something about bad memories?" If he couldn't drag answers from Giovanni then he would take what ever information he could from Matteo.

Again the Italian looked uncomfortable, "He received that scar when we were children, Giovanni's throat was slashed and he was left for dead. He was in shock for the longest time and so reclusive...he was violent towards some and clingy to others; getting attacks of panic whenever something brushed his neck."

"Why would someone attack him like that?"

"Because Venice is full of sick cut throats who attack mothers with children. Please leave it at that, it is not something we like to talk about."

Sighing deeply, Devrim gave a helpless shrug, "Is there anything I can do to help?" He was annoyed with himself for not being more attentive, for letting his dick rule his head and ruining any chance of a romantic encounter with the younger Auditore. "I am such an idiot..."

"Amico," Matteo patted his shoulder, "It was an accident...this is not even a full blown attack, this is...mild. He will calm down on his own, he is probably already on his feet again. A normal attack is him shutting his body down for a few hours until he feels safe, usually he will hide himself away after attacking anyone near him – and I mean anyone...it is like he loses all sense of himself and can not see friends." He pushed himself off from the wall, seemingly ready to enter the room and give his twin any comfort he needed, "I should probably tell you though. A severe panic attack usually ends up with someone being maimed or killed, especially if that person is threatening a loved one...it sounds mean but if he ever gets like that; knock him out."

00

The first few hours of their voyage was spent in near silence. Giovanni had gotten into his hammock by the time the two re entered and Matteo had followed suit, both communicating quietly and occasionally drawing the Turk in. Devrim seemed almost fascinated with every little hand gesture Giovanni made, often times able to translate the gestures without Matteo's help, grinning boyishly every time he mistranslated and eventually giving up in favour of letter writing. Giovanni didn't mind, he was quite content to lay there with his arm stretched out to hold Matteo's hand, both of them finding the bridge of their limbs across the two hammocks amusing, perhaps he was still a little anxious but he wouldn't hold it against the Turk; poor man looked so guilty. Would Devrim ever kiss him again?

It was not Giovanni's first kiss from another man. It would forever be the most memorable though, never had he been kissed like that, with confidence and raw passion. It was almost as if Devrim didn't care that they were both men, he had held nothing back – it didn't taste of shame. Others the Italian had kissed always seemed so tense, as if they were about to be struck down or thought someone was watching or they were simply curious and had no wish to do anything else.

"What are you thinking, fratello?" Matteo was looking at him with an annoying little smirk, "You look...hmm...I do not know but there is a spark in your eyes; something has pleased you." Giovanni shrugged a little at his brother, he was pleased but it would have to remain a secret from Matteo. The first time Giovanni had ever fantasised about kissing another man, at the time it had been a stable hand in Monteriggioni, he had never breathed a word of it to anyone, he knew what the priests said, he knew what everyone said about love between men and he knew it was a disgusting, terrible thing he was feeling. He'd always been terrified that Matteo would turn his back on him, would disown him and throw him aside; so instead, he followed Matteo to the brothels, pretended to smile and flirt with any woman that crossed his path until both Auditore brothers had the womaniser title their father was famous for. The only one in the world, other than the three men Giovanni had kissed, who knew his dirty little secret was Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo had pulled him aside one day and told him, 'There is nothing wrong with you.' He forgave himself after that, he accepted that he was different but he still never told anyone for fear of their rejection.

A tug on his fingers bought him out of his thoughts and he focused on Matteo, "You did not hear a word I said, did you?" Giovanni felt his face heat up a little and gave a little nod, "You are terrible, Vanni, I said: I am going to meet up with that girl I was telling you about earlier, I will not be more than an hour – will you be alright?" He nodded his head at Matteo and made a shooing motion, he was truly fine now.

Once the door had shut, Matteo nearly slamming it in his eagerness, a heavy silence settled in the small room with the occasional scratching of quill against paper as Devrim wrote a letter for his father. Two pigeons sat in cage cooing gently at one another, seemingly undisturbed by the tense atmosphere as they started grooming, "You two be quiet." Devrim muttered at them as he continued writing until he heard the soft thump of feet hitting the floor and light steps heading toward him. His back tensed a little and he put the quill down, his body turning just the tiniest bit until Giovanni rested his hands on the Turk's shoulders, "Giovanni?"

Reaching forward, his chest pressing against Devrim's back, Giovanni picked up the abandoned quill and pulled a clean piece of parchment forward, beginning to write in a mostly neat script, 'I am sorry.'

"No," Devrim shook his head lightly, "I rushed in without thinking. I am the one that is sorry."

'Fine, then we are both idiots.' He felt the Turk's back vibrate with a small laugh, 'Can we try again?'

He felt Devrim's body tense once more, though the man said nothing and Giovanni felt some of his courage leave him, his fingers were in the middle of letting the quill go when Devrim's hand covered them, "I am surprised." He said quickly before the other could run away, "I thought you would not want to continue – that I had messed up." Giovanni removed his left hand from Devrim's shoulder and let his fingers card through the Turk's hair as he moved his head down so that he could trail his lips along the other's jaw, "A-apparently I am wrong...I like when that happens." Devrim pulled away from the Italian's lips before they found his own, wanting to know a few more things before this went to, hopefully, more pleasurable places. "I have a few questions first."

Giovanni let out a rather indignant huff and let go of the man altogether, standing at the man's side with a hand on his hip, the other quickly scratching out, 'They better be good.'

He chuckled to himself, "I see someone else is impatient too," came the quiet murmur as Devrim wrapped his arm around the Italian's middle, "Anywhere else I need to be wary of?" Giovanni shook his head, "Alright, how many relationships have you had?"

A quick scratch and Devrim blinked dumbly at the drying ink, "None? ...serious boyfriends?" Another quick scratch, "...Same...one night stands?" again Giovanni tapped the same line, "So you have never been with any women and you have not...You are a virgin?" Devrim was looking up at him in surprise.

The longer he stared the hotter Giovanni felt his face become until he had to roll his eyes, push Devrim's arm off of his middle and begin write quickly, "It is hard enough finding someone like me without having a twin brother who goes with me everywhere, a father who is personal friends with every shady place in all of Roma and then finding time when I am not stabbing Templars. What has this got to do with anything.' His full stop almost stabbed through the parchment.

The Turk held his hands up in surrender, "Alright, alright – I was not judging or making fun, I am genuinely shocked...does your father keep you in a tall tower or is it a chastity belt made of steel?" Giovanni huffed slightly, finding the other man's sense of humour as annoying as it was charming, "I do not usually jump on other men before getting to know a few little things. I am not looking for a permanent relationship or anything serious; we probably have this two months together and then we will go our separate ways. Do you want that, Giovanni?"

Giovanni thought about it for a long moment. He was almost certain that Ezio was going to send him and Matteo home the second he spotted them, if not then Devrim might be sent out on another mission. And Devrim only seemed to be interested in a fling – at least the man was honest enough not to fuck him and throw him away like a used toy. Did he want two months of sneaking around behind Matteo's back with a man that made his heart stutter in his chest and had him feeling like a horny teenager? Would he regret his first time being for pleasure instead of love?

Matteo seemed to be doing fine and he threw his virtue at the first woman who would have him, could Giovanni do the same and not get attached like some girl. Whilst he was thinking, Devrim had pulled one of the Italian's hands to his mouth and was kissing his knuckles playfully, Giovanni looked down into the mischievous silver eyes, the boyish grin on those amazing lips and he sighed in defeat. He leant down kissing Devrim firmly on the mouth and then took the man's hand to pull him up and toward the bed, "...Si." His voice was barely above a whisper, aching in his throat as he made the words.

"Save your voice for moaning my name, güzel, you will need it." A sly smile came across his lips as he sat the younger man down, "I promise not to use my teeth this time." Giovanni returned the smile, reaching up to pull Devrim down over him and biting the man's collar bone sharply, grinning as it made the other gasp, "Oh, I see, you like teeth, I will keep that in mind then." This was where the Italian's experience ended, he could tease and kiss but beyond that he was a little out of his depth; he silently thanked God that Devrim took the initiative, his mouth kissing and sucking on the right side of his neck as fingers deftly undid shirt buttons. Devrim shifted back a little until he was straddling Giovanni's hips and with a tug pulled him up so they were in a sitting position, "We do not have time for anything too fun, your brother threatened to come back soon," with the shirt buttons dealt with the older Assassin brushed the silk over tanned shoulders and watched as it pooled down to Giovanni's elbows. Devrim muttered appreciatively, placing his hands upon Giovanni's waist and running his palms firmly upwards, deft fingers digging into firm muscle along the way, until finally his calloused thumb rubbed over an erect nipple causing a delicious moan to fall from the other's mouth. The noise caused Giovanni to blush brightly, he wasn't used to involuntary sounds coming from his mouth, to him it sounded too loud and strange but Devrim seemed to enjoy it.

Giovanni tilted his head up, kissing the man's chin before stretching a little further to kiss his mouth, hands finally venturing under the grey, cotton top to explore the skin beneath, his fingers slipping suddenly and causing him to sit back a little. "What did I do?" Devrim immediately asked, his hands whipping away out to the sides, "Did I hurt you?"

Giovanni ignored him for the moment, his his golden eyes focussed on his bloody fingers and the red stain on the man's clothing, "I must have pulled one of the stitches – I will live." He leant in as if to continue but the the Italian shook his head firmly, "...Please." Another firm shake and Giovanni was standing, Devrim slipping off his lap with a disappointed huff which turned into a rather unmanly squeak as he was spun and pushed onto the bed. "This is not sexy, Giovanni, I am fine, really." Despite the protests he wasn't going to ignore blood, even if he was hard and aching, he really didn't want Devrim passing out because of blood loss though because it could be awkward for a start.

The blood was coming from the wound that he had stitched up the night before, a few of the stitches were torn and something was protruding slightly from it.

Grabbing the quill and parchment, he sat on the edge of the bed and began writing down on it, 'I need to stitch you up again.' He passed it to Devrim, who sighed and fell back onto the bed in defeat.

"Evet...this is revenge for earlier." Giovanni reached to take the parchment out of the man's hand and threw it aside, the quill he flipped in his fingers and trailed the feathered end along the Turk's bare stomach, "Hmm, maybe I can be a good patient for you." With a quick press of lips the Auditore went to dig through his robes for his pack, returning quickly he threw the pack next to the other's head and climbed onto the bed to straddle him, "Oh, I like this – I have never had a lover who operated on me whilst sat on my crotch." If he blushed any more today he was going to pass out but he had never been called someone's 'lover' before, it made his whole body warm and he was sorely tempted to pick up where they'd left off a few moments before but Devrim was still bleeding slightly. Devrim pulled his grey top off, pulling on the Italian's shirt until it joined the top on the floor, his hands running up and down Giovanni's bare sides, "Now my hands will not be in the way."

The first thing Giovanni did was to cut the remaining stitches and pull them out, at first he had been worried that pushing Devrim away earlier had ripped the stitches but a sliver of metal from the spearhead was more likely the cause. He wanted to warn the other that this would hurt or even that he would make sure everything would be fine – it wasn't going to happen though so Devrim would have to take it like a man. Placing his index and middle fingers either side of the wound he opened it up slightly, the only response from the man beneath him was the tightening of fingers on his hips and nothing more, even though it had to hurt and it was actually bleeding more. "I told you before; just do what you need to, the sooner you are done the sooner I can do you."

He couldn't just yank it out this time, that was probably why there was shrapnel in the injury in the first place! Gold eyes travelled up from the ugly wound marring the Turk's stomach, appreciating the darkly tanned skin and all its little imperfections, small white scars on his sides, nicks from lucky knives or clumsy moves and then a star burst of many scars just on the left side of his ribcage. His fingers traced along the cluster of marks and Devrim shivered at the light touch causing Giovanni to pull away like he'd been burned. Devrim was just as quick to pull his hand back onto the semi-circle of scars and smile reassuringly, "It is alright. They are sensitive but in a good way – better under your touch." Feeling a little more confident, Giovanni leant down the Turk's body until he was hovering over the cluster of scars, observing the suddenly surprised silver eyes widen and enjoying the sound of a gasp as Giovanni nibbled along the ridged skin of one of the bigger scars, apparently they were very sensitive going by the twitch of Devrim's erection digging into his thigh. At the same time he reached into Devrim's cut, gently digging at the metal whilst he distracted the other with his mouth and pulling it out, "Ouch." Giovanni smiled and sat up, "Hey, get back here." A pleased laugh came from Devrim and he rewarded the other with the rocking of his hips, friction blessedly received. "It is not bleeding too much and if you stitch it up now we will tear them again...soo...why not enjoy ourselves first?" His fingers were tugging at Giovanni's trouser ties suggestively and all the Auditore could do was swallow hard as he nodded.

It was like he'd said 'please ravish me to within an inch of my life' the way Devrim dove into him, hands working at the ties of his trousers, mouth, lips and teeth working on his neck and shoulder. He couldn't get his length free soon enough, the relief making him shiver to be free of the confining leather , "Your brother told me you were shy, güzel, look at you though, wanton and oh so very confident in his own skin,"

Devrim sunk his teeth into Giovanni's chest, all he could do was arch into the ache and moan for the Turk again. He didn't feel all that confident, he felt like he should be doing more than gripping unruly, black hair and grinding his hips against Devrim's. All he could think was what a mess he must look and how needy - It was overwhelming to say the least. The older man's teeth gave a few more sharp nips as he travelled back up to Giovanni's eager mouth again, distracting the him from the hand wrapping around them both, the Italian arching his back again and covering Devrim's hand with his own, "A-aah! Dev..."

"Hmm, I knew I would enjoy hearing you moan my name. I wonder what noises you will make when I fuck you?" he panted into his ear. "First chance I get; I am going to tease and torture you until you beg me – on your knees – to please, please take you." Giovanni whimpered at the words being said into his ear, shivered as the man's accent deepened and darkened like a caress until he was certain Devrim could feel him throbbing excitedly in his hand, precum streaming steadily over both their palms as they stroked and ground against each other. "What has you so excited, güzel?_ S_o close already - are you that eager to let me stretch you open on my cock?"

He was going to come with those words alone, and he would beg and scrape and fall onto his knees and...oh God, yes – yes – he wanted so much to be stretched and filled. It was nearly painful the way his muscles seized as his orgasm hit him harder than he'd ever known and he wasn't sure when or how exactly he had turned into a boneless heap on the bed, Devrim panting above him as he himself panted heavily, vaguely aware of a hand trailing up and down his side, a wet mouth sucking a mark onto his shoulder. "You look completely wrecked," came the extremely smug voice of Devrim, "But after having you mewling so desperately against me and then - boom – you went off harder than a gunpowder bomb; you made no sounds for me after that but your face as you came was stunning. I want to see that again and again."

Giovanni was certain he couldn't feel any more embarrassed than that moment. He'd never had someone see him come undone or tell him that he was stunning and actually look like they meant it, Devrim's eyes were bright and excited but most of all they were honest and beautiful and – shit, was this what it felt like to be love struck like a girl? Licking his lips, Giovanni sat up slowly, looking everywhere but at Devrim and grabbing a rag that had been meant to tend the man's wound to clean himself up a little. He needed to stop being in awe of the Turk, needed to calm down and think about this clearly before he made a fool of himself.

"Giovanni..." Devrim called out gently, his index finger stroking lightly down his hip until he turned honey coloured eyes to the other, jealous of how easily Devrim could lay on the hard mattress, practically naked and sexier than any wet dream, "Şu anda bir kurbağayım. Beni öpmeni ve prensine dönüştürmeni bekliyorum." The older Assassin's voice was like a warm gust of wind against his entire being and despite his insecurity, Giovanni grinned like a fool, like he was five again and his mother had promised him all the cake he could eat and leant down to kiss the man.

((BTW: Şu anda bir kurbağayım. Beni öpmeni ve prensine dönüştürmeni bekliyorum = At this moment I am a frog.  
I'm waiting for your kiss and for you to change me into a prince.))

00

Matteo clutched his sides hard as he struggled to breathe, he hadn't laughed so hard in years, not even when La Volpe tripped into a canal. He buried his face into Giovanni's shoulder and tried his hardest to fend off the hysterics but the vibrations of his twin's laughter wasn't helping, "S-s-stop! I can...I can not breathe! Dio mio!"

"But I am not even half way through my story, Arkadaş!"

"I hate to think what my brother's handiwork will look like if you continue." Matteo had returned to the room to find Devrim laid out on the bed shirtless, knees hanging over the end of the bed as Giovanni knelt between them, a needle and thread in his fingers and a concentrated look. He had wandered over to see what was going on, getting swatted by Giovanni when he leaned in too close – his younger brother had held his nose and batted his eyelashes before shoving him away; it was his way of saying, 'Matteo, you stink of women's perfume, go away.' From that moment on Devrim had seen fit to tell him about a mission gone hilariously wrong; probably wanting to distract himself from the prick of a needle in his skin. "How did you tear your stitches in the first place?"

Giovanni pulled the second thread through the wound, the edges of what was going to be fresh scar tissue pinching together, and looked at Matteo guiltily as he pointed to himself, "How did you tear his stitches?" Giovanni pointed at Devrim, then to his own neck, followed my a pushing motion with his free hand and finally pointed at the injury in question. "Oh, when you shoved him away," The older twin then looked at Devrim, "You must have really bad landing skills because if my brother sews you up it is a bitch to undo them. I guess it was lucky, Vanni said you still had a piece of metal in there and it could have gone septic...who would we tell that you were dead and the end of this journey?"

Devrim wriggled up onto his elbows, Giovanni smacked his side as he had nearly stabbed the Turk when he'd moved – Matteo thought it strange for his twin to be comfortable with the man – once the Ottoman Assassin had settled again he said, "If I were to die before we got to Istanbul...Constantinople or whatever it is called today, you would need to tell my father that I was dead because our messaging system is slow; I would be bones by the time he heard about it. You would need to walk up to him and say, 'Yusuf Tazim, your son died bravely fighting...a...giant jellyfish – a really ferocious one with a sword and...an eye patch.' or something like that. Make it epic, I want bards singing about me and...women and children weeping – no, sobbing at how epically I died."

Matteo chuckled at the absurdity of the story, enjoying the man's sense of humour and general care free attitude, "By the time I am done, you will be known as 'Devrim the Assassin of epic fails'. Where would we even find your father should this jellyfish slay you?"

"Ouch." Another two stitches were being pulled tight, "You know I did not actually feel any pain from that until you started messing around with it – Ow!" trying to hide his snort, Matteo nudged his twin with his foot as if to remind him that purposely stabbing people with a needle was not the done thing. "To answer your question, if Giovanni is quite done being a sadist, my father is head of the Ottoman Brotherhood. Good luck keeping him in one spot to tell him of my demise though: he is always hard at work and our dens are far spread apart. Ow!" Devrim glared at Giovanni in clear annoyance, "How would you like if I impaled you, güzel?"

It was the oddest thing, thought Matteo, Giovanni dropped the needle, his eyes widened substantially and every bit of skin not covered my clothing was practically glowing red. As for Devrim, he covered his mouth and looked at Matteo like he had said something completely unacceptable. What was he missing here?

Giovanni seemed to recover quickly, bumbling around for the needle and actually opening his mouth to say something to the Turk, "Çünkü o türkçe bilmiyor." Matteo cringed at the sound, he had absolutely no idea what had been said because he had never learnt to speak Turkish but his twin's voice was enough to make him physically ache. He very rarely heard it any more, he could understand Giovanni's hand signs and expressions well enough that he never needed to utter a single word to him, it was a broken sound, rusted and twisted and ugly and always it sounded like pure agony to use. So why had he used it? What had Devrim done to hear something so rare that Giovanni would usually not bother to use it?

Unfortunately for the oldest Auditore he would never know what had just transpired. He would always assume that Devrim had simply misused his Italian and created an innuendo that embarrassed and maybe offended his little brother and that Giovanni had told him off. He wouldn't know that Devrim had panicked at calling Giovanni 'güzel' by accident, thinking that Matteo would make a fuss at him calling the younger Auditore 'beautiful' so causally. "What did he say to you?"

0

Devrim blinked dumbly for a long moment, Matteo's question catching him off guard after his near slip up, "Uh...he said...That he would stab me somewhere painful if I complained again." In actual fact it had been, 'He does not know Turkish' but that seemed even more suspicious, "I have said before that I am not a good patient, I am sorry for my outburst and I promise not to complain again, evet?" Giovanni nodded distractedly, already resuming his work and Matteo seemed satisfied with the answer...almost. The man's face seemed tense, a crease between his eyebrows and his lips turned down ever so slightly, his eyes were trained on his brother and Devrim wondered if the man's balled up fists were the only thing stopping him from hugging the younger man. At least that is how Devrim's father looked when he wanted to hold and protect his brothers and sister. Was Matteo so disturbed to hear Giovanni speak? That seemed to be what had set him off, the sound of him trying to speak normally was appalling and made the Turk wonder again at just how close that cut was to ending the man's life. Yet when he used it to moan in pleasure – Devrim thought it was beautiful. "You have not told us about your conquest, Matteo, Is she pretty? Is she charmed by you? Are you going to get any sex on this voyage?"

000

Yusuf Tazim was having a problem – sort of. A pigeon had arrived for him and the damned, flying rat would not let him catch it; he was currently sat on the ground cross legged, in the garden of an Assassin Den, a string in his fingers that led to a stick, which was holding up a box with tempting bird food under it. He could be patient. Though secretly he hoped the note was tied so tight to the feathered creature's leg that it fell off. "Salve, Yusuf...what are you doing?" Ezio had probably already guessed by the elaborate set up but it was obviously feeling smug enough to ask, "Problems?"

"...I just wanted to see if this kind of trap would work," Yusuf said as if this was normal, "If it does, we build a larger version and all our problems are solved, evet? We can use pieces of Eden as the bait."

And then came that smooth, annoying voice that Yusuf could practically feel the smirk in its tone, "Would you like me to catch the pigeon?"

The leader of the Ottoman Brotherhood was not going to admit that he needed help with a troublesome pigeon that refused to let him have the message tied to it, so came his insolent reply of, "No."

Ezio laughed at his obvious petulance, he didn't care if he sounded like a spoilt child and yes, there was a pout on his lips not befitting of his position. He watched as Ezio approached the bird confidently, kneeling near it – with a crack of ageing bones that mad Yusuf feel the tiniest bit better - "Come here, you." The pigeon cooed curiously at the Master's outstretched fingers, head twitched from left to right before marching to him and allowing itself to be picked up, "Finesse, Yusuf, not everything can be fixed with a bomb...or ridiculous trap."

"Luck." The Turk muttered as he took the note from the bird and unrolled it, "Pure luck."

"No." The Italian said confidently, pigeon now cooing whilst sat on his hand like it lived there, "Female pigeon – I told you, the women can not resist my charms." That earned him a raised eyebrow and blank stare before Yusuf shook his head at the man's cheeky smile and read the message; A smile coming to him after just the first line. "Good news, Yusuf?"

He indicated that they walk with a nod of his head, message being slipped into one of the many, many pockets on his person – never to be seen again. "My son is on a ship home and he has...companions, a couple of lost Italians he met at the docks in Cyprus. He mentioned they were part of your Brotherhood."

"They should not be, I left specific orders that they carry out their work on that side of the world – were there names?" By the tired tone and darkening of Ezio's eyes, Yusuf was certain that the man knew the answer without really having to ask, Yusuf's man would not write names or specifics in case the letter was compromised. "When will they arrive?"

"Two months? Providing the sea is good to them, Devrim is a magnet for fortune so all should be well."

"Devrim? Your son?" They ducked into an alley as a small group of guards made their rounds, "I did not see you as a terror to women, Amico, you barely have time to polish your blade." He smirked at the grin on the other's face, he was such a child at times, "Is he your only child?"

Yusuf shook his head and held up six fingers, laughing merrily at the jaw drop he received, "Five boys, one girl all by one wife – Look on your face, Ezio!" The man looked like he was having a heart attack – oh wait, was he? "Are you alright, old man?" Yusuf was laughing at him again, patting his shoulder as he turned down another alley

"Si...just surprised, I would have thought to have seen them by now."

"You have, Ezio! Though Devrim has been doing some work in Cyprus for me – it is his Intel we await so eagerly. Remember the two guys who nearly blew their arses off yesterday? My twin sons, not the brightest of Assassins but loyal and really bad with bombs." He had stopped counting the times they had nearly destroyed a den or lost a limb because they were fooling around like children, "My youngest son and daughter 'work' in the palace as servants; but if you stay a few consecutive nights in the Gelata den you are sure to meet them." Slinking through the streets towards Gelata Tower, Yusuf chatted away about his children, Devrim being mentioned often but as they got further Ezio seemed to be thinking hard and slowed as they cut across the cemetery toward the hideout.

"That is only five children you mention, you have missed one out."

"Not really..." The Turk came to a stop, something that Ezio seemed to expect him to do, this spot they stood in, Yusuf always stopped for a moment. Like something physically pulled him to halt that he could never ignore, almost like a cold spot that froze him for the briefest of moments before he would carry on as usual. "I never miss any of them out, he is here," He crouched in front of a couple of markers, his hands caressing the stone as if it was a living thing, "Sef pushes all the flowers to the surface and his mother," He gestured to the other marker, a lump forming in his throat and making it hard to speak clearly, "She makes them beautiful...they died of fever a year or so ago – I try not to remember exactly when."

He felt a warm weight rest on his shoulder, squeezing lightly as the Italian tried to offer some sort of comfort, "I am sorry, Yusuf."

"It just makes me so furious, Ezio, that it was not something I could fight..." He sounded bitter, his body was tight and angry for a moment before he sighed loudly and stood, his usual façade back in place as the tension seemed to fall away – he had things to do, he could grieve when he was dead. "What about you, Ezio, any children to speak of?"

"About a hundred bastards or so," They laughed at that, the Turk needed a small distraction and Ezio was happy to provide it seemed, "I helped raise two of them, though. Twins. My official, recognised bastards. Their mother was model for a friend of mine and we got a little too drunk; next thing I know, Leonardo is telling me he has rigged my gun to explode on my wrist and that he may or may not undo it depending on my willingness to become a father." Yusuf tilted his head silently asking if that was what Ezio wanted, "I was excited, this was the first time I was going to see any child of mine, that I knew existed, I was thirty two, last male in my line and Carlotta was a catch – beautiful, smart and fiery, my favourite kind." The older man seemed to drift into his memories for a second, carrying on when the hideout door clicked open, "No one ever expected twins, or for them to be so damn awkward. Matteo was born before the midnight bell tolled and then Giovanni pops out when the bell stops – Birthdays are ridiculous!But I was so happy. More than I thought I would be...they were so small and I could hold them both in one arm and they would just look up at me like...I do not know but it felt good."

Yusuf smiled, he knew that kind of feeling, holding a mewling, puking mess and telling it it is adorable, "Did you Marry Carlotta?"

"No, we did not want to and it suited us fine, we were very good friends who accidentally slept together and made babies...I loved her as a sister." Ezio saw the slightly grossed out look on Yusuf's face and seemed to think about that last sentence, "Well, not as a sister because that is...no. Pretend that never happened."

"Oh it is forgotten...and buried...and may it rest in peace." He snorted as Ezio rubbed a hand over his face in what was a comical way of telling that the Master was over tired. So why not make it a little bit worse?! "You love your sons very much?"

"..._Si_." They'd finally made it into the building and into the library, "Of course I do, what kind of question is that?"

The Turk shrugged, "Sooo," Yusuf saw Ezio close his eyes, knowing that when he drew out his words it was usually to drop something on him, "Say if - IF – they, as in a set of Italian twins, were to magically appear with my son on the docks...you, being a loving father would obviously embrace them and welcome them with the biggest of grins – Like a child full of sugar and rainbows."

Groaning as if he were in pain, Ezio almost growled his next words, "Matteo and Giovanni are on a ship?" Yusuf nodded with a benign smile, "Matteo promised me that he would not follow me here! That boy is impossibly stubborn...and Giovanni followed him out like an idiot! Following his brother, keeping him safe and grounded – keeping them from getting completely lost...I shoud have locked them up!"

"So...not overly happy?"

"Yusuf, when those boys set foot on those docks – I am going to kill them and then bring them back...and then I will kill them again!"

The man nodded sagely, seeing the anger in Ezio as a way all father's worried about their children, he couldn't resist a little teasing though, "Ezio, my friend ...Will you at least cuddle their corpses?"


	3. Chapter 3

Devrim glared out over the sea, its rough, grey waters reflecting his mood at that particular moment. He was usually an very good lover, he had a few exes that would vouch for that, it seemed that things were harder with the Auditore. The main problem was Matteo – the man was always around. He and Giovanni stole moments together in Matteo's rare absences; kisses, grinding like animals in heat against whatever they were against at the time, and the very occasional hand inside each other's trousers as they stroked the other to completion. It was good, sometimes very good but it wasn't enough to satisfy him. Yes, he had to go a little slower with Giovanni because the Italian was learning to be comfortable and everyday he became more confident, at least until Matteo would reappear. Yesterday, for instance, had been a nightmare, the second Matteo had left the cabin Giovanni was on him like a man possessed! Devrim had been pinned to the cabin wall, a strong thigh massaging persistently against his crotch and the Italian had used his forearm to pin Devrim there by the throat – he'd nearly messed himself then and there at the dominate display. But then they'd heard Matteo returning and Giovanni was gone, back to his reading like nothing at all had happened, except both of them were solid as a rock. Devrim had had to excuse himself to finish himself, the near choking one of his more shameful turn ons – Like how Giovanni liked being bitten. Not nips and scrapes, _bitten_. Hard enough to leave an imprint but not break the skin, his chest, hips and thighs were covered in Devrim's marks. They had been on the ship for a week now and all Devrim wanted was to throw Matteo overboard and ravish Giovanni.

That wasn't the only problem though, they'd had a golden opportunity less than an hour ago and one little slip had ruined all the work Devrim had achieved in getting Giovanni to trust him with his body. Devrim had bitten him, it was an impulse move that had been too close to the scar marring an otherwise delicious neck. And Giovanni had panicked.

Matteo had been not been exaggerating when he had said his twin would attack anyone who came close, Devrim had struggled to try an help, he had tried to pull the other into his arms but he fought and struggled to get away, his breathing had been erratic and his eyes nearly glowed as they swept about the room wildly. The Turk had backed away; letting Giovanni ball himself up in the corner like a scared child and thought to let the other calm on his own. As time went on Giovanni became still, he was unresponsive even when Devrim placed a tentative hand on the top of his head, "Giovanni...güzel, please look at me...let me know you are well, Giovanni...?" He had all but begged for a reaction and when nothing came the Turk got up and left the room to find Matteo.

00

"_You...did what?" Matteo had been pulling on his clothes as Devrim spoke through the door of Matteo's latest conquest, he'd originally demanded that he be left alone but once Giovanni's state had been mentioned Devrim could hear the man rushing behind the door, finally appearing in what should have been an amusing fluster but Devrim couldn't find it funny, "You grabbed his neck whilst sparring together?! Cazzo, Devrim! What were you thinking!" They rushed through the narrow corridors of the ship, "How bad is he?"_

_Devrim narrowly avoided running into one of the sailors, "At first he would not let me close, then he curled up in the corner and became unresponsive...I did not know what to do – I did not mean this to happen." Matteo didn't appear to be listening to him so they made their way as fast as they could to their cabin, Matteo threw the door open and seemed to know where his twin was without looking through the room first, he rushed over, wrapping his arms around Giovanni and almost crushing him; Giovanni started fighting even his twin as he looked around wildly, golden eyes wide and frightened as he gasped in air again._

"_It is alright, they are dead, Vanni, no one is going to hurt us. Calm down, please calm down – we are not in Venice any more." The shaking didn't calm much so Matteo tucked his brother's head under his chin and glared at the Turk, his voice lowering as his hostility rose, "Leave."_

_00_

So here he was, waiting for the wrath of the Eldest Auditore to come down on him. Now that he thought about it – Giovanni didn't seem to know where he had been. What had Matteo said? 'We are not in Venice', maybe...maybe...there was more to it than a panic attack, it seemed more than that and once again, maybe, it could be cured. There had to be more to it than the attack itself leaving its mark; Something had happened a long time ago, Devrim had seen traumatised people before and now that he thought about it – maybe he could help.

"Were you sparring or fighting?!" Matteo hissed as he stalked toward the Turk, "I can not get him to talk to me! He is shaking so hard I can barely hold onto him, do you know how difficult it will be to calm him down?" Matteo shoved at him angrily, the quick attack made Devrim stumble back into the side of the ship, "I do not understand you two, one minute you are fine together and then the next you two are avoiding the other...swear to me, promise me that this was as you said – an accident."

It would be easier if he could tell the truth, instead he steeled himself, looked Matteo in the eye and said, "On my life, this was an accident and I would never, never, Matteo, hurt him on purpose." Licking his lips nervously, the Turk continued, "What did you mean when you said you were no longer in Venice? Does Giovanni not know this?"

The older Auditore narrowed his eyes at him and jabbed a finger into his chest, "It does not concern you." If he pissed the other off any more, Devrim was certain he'd be thrown over board and the only reason Devrim hadn't shoved him back yet was because Matteo was rightfully angry. He couldn't count the amount of fights he'd picked when his younger siblings were involved, he knew the kind of blinding rage that the other was holding back and he understood, "All you need to know is that my brother is scared and stuck in a memory we all wish we could save him from – so just leave him alone!"

"Maybe talking to him - "

"Talk?" He spat, "Talk! Like that has ever worked!"

That sounded quite defensive to the older man, "Is it just you that has tried? Just because you are his brother does not mean Gio tells you everything..."

"Shut up!" Matteo grabbed the man's top and shook him angrily, "He is my twin, we share everything, there are no secrets between us – who are you to say that? You do not know us!" Devrim's hands came up in surrender and Matteo seemed to realise he was making a scene, he took a deep breath, though Devrim had a feeling that he would feel better if he could knock the his teeth out. "Do not call him Gio...if you call him that today he may just snap." Matteo said in a lower tone, sounding almost tired, "Leonardo and Mama can call him Gio...no one else and he will only think of Mama more if you say it." Letting go of him, Matteo took a step back, his hands threading through his hair in frustration, messing the neatly tied tresses, "It has been years since he last reacted like this! Why can you not just leave him alone?!" He struck out blindly as his anger came back with vengeance, Devrim not prepared for the attack stumbled into the boats edge again and in a flurry of mocha material vanished over the side, Matteo chasing him wildly, "Devrim!"

The Turk had never been so relieved for the hours and hours of training his father had put him through, giving him his lightning fast reflexes and on this occasion, saving his own life, he stared up at Matteo with eyes the size of saucers, thanking his hook blade that he wasn't fish food, golden eyes, the same size as his, stared down in shock at him. He could hardly give him lectures now for an accident when he'd just tossed him off the boat. Matteo reached over the side and helped him back onto the deck, "See how easy screwing up is?"

"...I am still angry with you...what is that on your blade?"

000

"_Leonardo! Leonardo!"_

"_Leo!"_

_The blonde artist looked up from his blueprints to see two little boys running into his workshop, he grinned foolishly at them and with his arms wide, crouched to their height as they barrelled into him, "Piccoli angeli!" He hugged them tightly as they both chatted wildly at him, all big, gold eyes, messy hair, chubby cheeks and dirty hands – the usual for two excitable four year olds. "What have you been doing?" He heard 'wall' and 'mud' and 'Papa stole a horse!' - Ah, they were with Ezio today. That explained their untidy appearance and why they were so hyper active, Ezio always gave them sweets, bribing them most days, "How exciting, now go and wash your hands...and your face Matteo, then come back to me and you can tell me more about it...one at a time.." They nodded and quickly ran past._

"_Did I hear you call them angels? Because they are anything but..." Ezio sunk down onto the nearest chair with a massive sigh, "They have had me in circles today, 'Papa, teach us to climb', 'Papa, we are hungry', 'Papa, I feel sick' followed by actual vomit to illustrate his point – Is Matteo always this messy?. 'Papa, that man wants his horse back'" He obviously explained that it was a messenger's horse and he needed the guards not to arrest him; and Leonardo would bet his hat that they spent a while telling him off because their mother said stealing was bad. He knew Ezio loved them to pieces but they exhausted everyone who babysat; How Leonardo got them to behave so nicely, would be a mystery to the genius. "I feel so old, Leo...how did this happen to me?"_

_Leonardo shrugged his shoulder, "You put your _Pene_ in a woman." It had meant to have been a jab for sleeping with his model and friend but the absolutely gleeful look on the Assassin's face made him do a double take; why did he look so..._

"_Why would a _Pene_ go in a woman, Leo." Matteo was gazing up at him in confusion, his face still wet from washing off the dirt and the cutest look of confusion had taken its place._

"_Si, Leo. Why would I do such a thing?" he was grinning almost madly ad the artist floundered to answer the child - He was not having the 'sex talk' with Ezio's four year old child ; he wasn't doing it!_

"_Leo, what is this?" And there was Matteo's inability to focus to save him – blessed boy. Relieved beyond belief, Leonardo turned away from his old friend and to the boy examining his latest test piece, self propelled objects. _

"_Ah, well this is something I've been working on, Matteo." Picking the boy up and placing him on the table, Leonardo began going into detail, showing him how some of the components worked and answering all of the curious boy's questions. Giovanni tip toed beside the table curiously for a moment, he seemed to decide he wasn't all that interest and wandered over to his father, Leonardo smiled to himself as the child climbed onto Ezio's lap and curled up against him like a content cat. "You seem to have tired Gio out."_

_Ezio shrugged at him, "I think it was chasing around after his brother and keeping him out of trouble that did it," That sounded about right, "Hey, bambino, I thought you wanted to practice reading?" Giovanni shook his head, mouth open wide in a yawn as he nuzzled into the man's robes sleepily. "I love when the sugar rush wears off."_

"_Lies, you love it when they fall asleep on you – Ah! Matteo do not touch that!"_

_000_

Devrim groaned when he saw Giovanni still in the corner, "He can not stay there." Giovanni could hear the man clear as day, he just didn't want to uncurl from his protective little ball, even when he felt arms on him and his whole body being lifted he didn't want to move. "Giovanni, you need to come back to us, güzel." He could feel himself being place down on the bed and a body settle close beside him, stroking his hair soothingly as their other hand searched for his and held it – he recognised it as Matteo. "He seems a little calmer." The younger Italian didn't feel much better, he had lived through a nightmare only just now thinking about fonder memories of falling asleep against his father and he'd felt safe again. "Hey, Giovanni, do you want to see my hookblade? Your brother said you do not have them in Italy." That sounded interesting. He gave a squeeze to the hand in his, not ready to talk yet but curious all the same, "Do you want to see?" Giving a slow nod, Giovanni tried to ignore two relieved breaths being released from the men, a little shuffling followed; Giovanni tightening his grip on Matteo until he received a reassuring squeeze back.

He squinted his eyes open, after having them squeezed shut for so long they ached, Devrim appeared in front of him, a sad look on his face as he knelt on the floor and rested his elbows on the bed's mattress, "I do not deserve your forgiveness for my stupidity...I am sorry." Devrim extended his arm and released his blade. It looked like any other hidden blade until he spotted the addition, an intricately carved eagles head that formed into a hook. "At home, many of our rooftops have ropes spanning across them. This hook allows us to slide along them, we can hook into our enemies and pull them towards us...or to go over them – which is fun, the looks on their faces is better than a cherry bomb in a library...perhaps I can teach you both?"

The hook blade was interesting, he wanted to unstrap it from the man and pull it apart until he could see how it fit together and if there were more differences from his own blade. Devrim smiled, blade sliding back inside the bracer before he began undoing the fastenings, "There are many things we have that you do not; like bombs, not just smoke bombs. I will ask my father if he will let me teach you to make them and then we can throw them at the guards." The bracer lay on the bed, unattached to its owner, who seemed to be trying his best make him feel better – it was kind of sweet. Giovanni reached for the bracer, running his index finger over the worn engravings, intricate swirls and patterns that had been carefully carved into the metal seemed to have been made purely to frame whatever had been in its centre. There were a few clear outlines of feathers and maybe what was once a claw...and if he squinted just right he could see the vaguest outline of the Assassins symbol, "It used to be a hawk." Devrim said quietly, "When I was very little I was afraid it would fly out of the metal and carry me away, it looked so real and fierce! But as the years went on it got worn out, this was my Baba's favourite blade and he never wanted to replace it, he said, 'It works, it has never let me down and I am not replacing it just because it is a little bit battered on the decoration'."

"But you have it now." Matteo said and Giovanni nodded a little, he'd wondered the same thing.

"He was presented with a new one for an anniversary gift. He did not want to upset his wife of twenty five years by not wearing it and this one was to be taken apart to be reused or melted down. I practically begged for it, I told him that if he did not I would not love him any more."

"...And that worked?"

"No. He said that he had five other kids that would still love him and he would just have to make more to fill the void I would leave." Giovanni nearly choked as a laugh forced itself free and he could feel Matteo holding in an mused snort, "He gave it to me for my twenty first birthday. After having it refitted and serviced because apparently he has a few extra components in his bracers." The Turk turned the whole thing over to reveal the hidden weapons, "There is this big gap here and then this bit looks like something was removed from the original structure, Baba never takes his off and no one will let me look at theirs."

Matteo leant over his twin, practically laying on top of him as he looked closer, Giovanni thought he could figure out what was removed but was more interested in the large gap, that was where a hidden gun was usually kept, "Your gun is missing and your poison blade is missing too."

Devrim looked at them both dumbly, head tilting cutely as his lips turned to a pout, "Gun? There is not a gun small enough in the world to fit in there and as for the poison blade...makes sense for him to take it out for my use."

"There is, do not be surprised if things have changed when you return home; our father found the codex pages of Altaïr and they were filled with all kinds of inventions and techniques – he did bring them with him, I think...Vanni, do you remember?" That was cheap trick, of course he remembered because he was the one who had packed them onto their father the night before he had left, "He might have forgotten...what do you think, Vanni?" The older twin poked him in the ribs, "Do you think the old man forgot?" Another poke, "He is getting pretty grey these days and maybe his brain is not working as well, hey, Vanni? What do you think? Huh? Huh?" every word from Matteo's mouth came with a jab in Giovanni's unprotected ribs until he was finally irritated enough to turn over on the narrow bed and shove the other off, "Agh! Stronzo!"

Devrim had burst out laughing behind him and there was clunk as he fell back in his hysterics, "Nicely done, Giovanni!"

000

_Giovanni was dreaming; he knew none of this was real. Leonardo's workshop in Venice was messy and chaotic, it was his home once though, it didn't matter how messy he remembered it – it was always a warm and welcoming place. He was stood in the corner of what used to be his bedroom and opposite him in the doorway was his mother. She was rolling her eyes as she watched his seven year old self and Matteo try to dress themselves, she was laughing at their confusion of which way the doublet went on, his mother went on to pick up a few of their toys, and some of Leonardo's things from the floor. Giovanni remembered she had always wanted her own home, between the hyper active and excitable children he knew they were, Leonardo, a constantly exasperated Salai and steady supply of people wanting commissions she found life a little stressful. She should have asked his father to get her a little apartment, especially as Leonardo was moving on to a new location, or even a place in Monteriggioni? Mario had often extended the offer and they loved their great uncle and their grandmother, oh and Claudia was just the most exciting aunt in the entire world. It would have been great._

"_Matteo, Gio, hurry up or your uncle Antonio will get your father to do something ridiculous again." Like fly into the Doge's palace in one of Leonardo's machines – sure that had been before they'd been born but his mother always yelled at him that he could have died, "Gio, my baby, come here, your top is inside out." She knelt down as his younger self went to her obediently, complaining that h was a big boy now, "I know you are, sometimes Mama wants to help – what have you got in your hand?"_

"_One of uncle Antonio's lock picks, I could not reach his coin purse so I took this instead." His mother's jaw dropped, "I will give it back today...he might give me something for stealing it!" He was grinning wildly even as she continued to look horrified. _

_She tousled his hair gently until he giggled and Matteo ran over for attention too, "Well, be careful with that, it looks like a spike, make sure you give it straight back to Antonio. No more stealing – both of you." standing up, she tied her purse to her hip and beckoned to the boys, "Salai, make sure Leonardo eats today! I will be back later." Tiny hands took hers and the three left the work shop. _

_Giovanni followed after them, "Stop, stay here!" He tried to grab onto them, pull them back from the door but he couldn't seem to get close enough, "Mama, Mama please! Please! Please stay here, Mama!"_

0

"Hey, hey, Giovanni, wake up...wake up!" Devrim shook the Italian gently until he jolted awake, nearly falling out of his hammock if it weren't for the Turk, "You were having a bad dream?" he whispered so he wouldn't wake Matteo up, "Come on, you need to get out of this tiny room, güzel." With a nod Giovanni got out of the hammock and let the Turk lead him out of the room, Devrim walked through the poorly lit corridors, tripping on the first step on the way up to the deck, "Every time I trip on that...I come up to the deck on some nights when I can not sleep, the sailors have not found my hiding spot yet." They made their way across the deck silently until they reached the wooden lifeboats, Devrim peeled the protective cloth away and climbed in. Giovanni peeked inside where the Turk was making himself comfortable and then motioned for the younger man to join him, "What? Never cuddled in a boat under the stars before?"

Soon he was laid out comfortably with Giovanni resting on top of him, his fingers playing with loose hair, "Have I told you I am sorry about this morning? I did not realise how close I was and it is my fault you were out of it all day and probably why you were having bad dreams, I am usually more charming than this." The boat rocked lightly and Devrim's arms tightened a little around the other, "Do you want to tell me about it? Your dream or...anything you want really? It might help...maybe." Giovanni looked up at him, he looked a little helpless as he held his throat and shook his head, "...um...I should have grabbed some paper." The Italian sighed and instead began mouthing at the man, it took a couple of tries because of the poor lighting but understanding dawned on Devrim, "Oh. Your throat is sore? I guess you have been doing a lot of moaning and then when I am too stupid to understand you have to talk...it hurts when you speak, right?" The Italian shrugged at him, resting his head back on Devrim's chest and settling himself so he was more comfortable.

00

_Giovanni looked around them and tugged on his mother's hand, he didn't recognise where they were at all. Venice was a maze at times and she'd been distracted with the him and Matteo that she'd taken a wrong turn somewhere, they had ended up next to the canal in a run down part of the city. "Angeli, hold Mama's hands tight, we are going back the way we came."_

"_Mama, are we lost?" Matteo asked in an unsure whisper, he didn't like this place either. She let go of Matteo's hand and crouched down a little, kissing his head and telling him they were going to be alright before kissing the end of Giovanni's nose. The boys smiled bravely for her and they began to back track, only a couple of voices made them all hesitate. "Mama?"_

"_Salve, madonna," a man's voice was heard before he appeared from around the corner, four more men behind him blocking the way out of the dead end the family had walked into. "What is such a pretty thing doing here...are you taking the little boys somewhere?" They spread out until the men surrounded them, each man filthy and obviously the usual cut throats that ran a muck in the city. The thieves that Antonio ran would never be as bad as these guys – they also tended to keep away from these kinds of people. "Why not let us take the boys out of the way and we can socialise?" A snicker echoed around her as she brought the twins closer to herself, their little arms wrapping around her waist as the boys realised they were in trouble, Giovanni held onto her tightly; he always held onto her when he was frightened. Matteo would cower in close but he never clung, he was trying to be brave like their father._

_Matteo glared at the men before looking at his brother's frightened eyes and then up at his mother as she held tighter to his hand. "If you do not leave us alone, you will be sorry." The men laughed at him, throwing comments to each other about him being 'too big for his boots' and if they should 'piss themselves in fear'. A pull on his hand put him off balance and he fell into his mother. His mother had pulled him closer when one of the men had grabbed onto the younger twin's arm to pull him away, "Let him go!"_

"_Mama!" Giovanni's grip faltered on his mother's dress and he reached for Matteo's outstretched hand, holding onto him tightly. "Teo, help!"_

"_Gio! Let him go! Leave him alone!" Whilst she was holding onto her children one of the men grabbed her and dragged her away from them, "Get the fuck off me! I swear you will regret this! Matteo! Giovanni!"_

"_Mama!" They both yelled as they held tight to one another, the men trying to separate them but failing as the boys used their teeth and feet against them. "Leave Mama alone!" Giovanni yelled and plunged Antonio's stolen lock pick into a meaty hand. The man ripped his hand away and yowled as the metal tore more of his skin. _

"_Little shit!" He pulled the metal out and grabbed Giovanni around his middle, his fist knocking Matteo aside and to the floor as the boy had tried to save his brother. Giovanni struggled even more when he saw his brother holding onto the side of his head, blood seeping over his fingers and running down his arm but soon ceased as he felt something hard and cold against his neck, Matteo's eyes widened in horror and he told Giovanni to stop moving. "You had to make things hard, all we wanted was your money and maybe a little fun with your mother – you little brats had to act up though; Did your Mama not teach you manners."_

_No one had dared to move, Matteo spat a mouthful of blood onto the stone, his face and clothing stained red with blood but he hadn't seemed to have noticed, his gold eyes looking only at the blade on his twin's neck. Even their mother didn't dare move despite the hands groping at her, "You can have the money...Dio...y-you can have me just let them go, they are children, just let them go and you can have whatever you want..." She didn't care what happened to her as long as her children were safe. "They are just babies!"_

_The men looked at one another, seeming to decide on the next course of action; having Giovanni by knife point had made the situation a lot quieter and the woman was compliant, "Let that one go, he will not make it far before he passes out." Matteo looked over at his mother helplessly and then to his brother, "Are you stupid, kid? Piss off."_

"_No!" Matteo yelled as he stood unsteadily, his vision fuzzy from hitting the stone so hard, "I am not going without them!"_

"_Matteo!" His mother snapped at him, her brown eyes softening at the hurt look on her eldest's face, "Matteo," She said it gently this time, "Find Papa, tell him we will be home a little late..." This loosely translated to; find your father so he can teach these thugs a lesson. "Please go...I will look after your brother because Gio is going to be a good boy..." She glanced at her youngest, he was sniffling unhappy at being separated from them both but he nodded as best he could with the knife still on him._

_00_

The Italian remembered that Matteo had cried and practically begged their mother not to make him leave, he remembered the metal biting into his skin as a warning and only then had Matteo ran. Giovanni shifted his body so that he was laid out along Devrim's side, one hand curling around his neck gently, it felt as if it were throbbing maybe it was his body remembering the ache of serrated skin or the lump forming in it, the arm he had slung carelessly across the Turk's waist tensed and his fingers gripped the man's clothing, "What is wrong?" Devrim was frowning down at him, his arms came around Giovanni as if to protect him, "I do not want to see you cry, güzel," Giovanni felt a comforting hand on his back, the Turk brought their faces together and pressed his lips to the other's cheek, "Something horrible happened to you, something you did not deserve and hunts you even now...you can tell me about it, I swear I will not think any less of you." The younger man sat up, wiping his arm across his eyes quickly and motioned that Devrim should follow him up. He opened his mouth and started mouthing his story to the Turk – Devrim concentrating and focusing only on his lips as he went.

00

_The little boy had to watch as they hit her and tore at her clothing and threw her down to the filthy ground. He couldn't understand what they were doing to her, only that they were hurting her and she was letting them do it to protect him and he couldn't bear to hear her yell or cry any more, "Mama! Mama! Leave her alone!" Giovanni was crying so hard he could hardly breathe but he couldn't do nothing, "Let me go, stronzo!" he kicked the man in the groin and immediately the thug let go of him; both falling to the ground. As the little Italian struggled to his feet the four other men stopped dead, all of them staring at him with varying levels of shock and horror, "Mama..." his voice was garbled and sounded wet, mouth filling with what tasted like copper until it flooded out of his mouth and he fell forward onto the stones no longer able to move. Giovanni gazed at his mother, seemingly oblivious to the puddle of red spreading on the ground around him, instead he saw only her and when one of the men wrapped his hands around her already bruised throat he could do nothing but watch, watch as the life was choked out of her and her eyes glazed over leaving her kind brown eyes dull and unseeing._

00

Devrim felt his stomach churn, he had paled considerably at what he had been told and wondered if he would have been ill had he not been lip reading, "That is awful...You were so little," He almost lunged at Giovanni in his desperation to hold the man, to pour as much affection into his embrace as possible and only trying harder when he felt Giovanni sobbing against his chest as he fisted the back of the older man's clothing. The Turk could not imagine seeing such a thing, couldn't imagine how useless he would feel because he was not strong enough to save the person he loved and then witnessing their death. "And you relive that every time someone touches your scar?" Giovanni nodded and Devrim curled around him more, stroking the younger man's back and hair; wishing he could do something more. "You were so, so little..." He didn't want to think about how a seven year old Giovanni would have looked like but he could imagine a boisterous child with innocent bright eyes, chatting away like an excited little bird, smiling like nothing bad would ever happen to him. He could imagine that same child left to bleed to death in a filthy alley, the last thing those bright eyes would see would be his mother's broken body. Devrim wanted to protect him, wanted to hold him close and never let anything terrible happen again to him.

They stayed wrapped around each other for what seemed like hours, the younger man hadn't cried for long but he never loosened his grip, even when he had started to relax a little as Devrim stroked through his hair and twirled the brown locks between his fingers. "We should head back, it will be dawn soon and your brother will worry if he finds us both missing." Giovanni lifted his head from the man's chest, accidentally head butting the Turk's chin that he'd been tucked under; Devrim didn't really mind and forgave the sleepy looking Italian easily, kissing his forehead and then coaxing him out of the boat.

000

"So, Ezio." Yusuf started, "How do I tell your boys apart? How do I stop Matteo from throwing a knife at me for accidentally calling him Giovanni?" The man was – and Ezio was surprised – polishing his blades. With their combined efforts the Ottoman Brotherhood had gained room to breathe and there were more Den Masters being trained even as the two leaders relaxed in the library of Gelata.

Ezio looked up from one of the books Sofia had translated for him and smirked, "Matteo and who?"

"Giovanni...?"

The Italian master laughed at the pronunciation of his younger son's name, "Foreigners always get that name wrong when they read it first; Jo – vah – knee. Not Gee – o."

Yusuf pointed the blade in his hand at the other, "Says the foreigner who mutilates my language in my country – so stop being smart, old man and answer me."

Ezio laughed at that, not about to deny an absolute fact, "I like you better when you are too busy to make smart comments," The Turk laughed at that, putting his blade down and picking up another neglected piece, "Matteo is loud and brash, he rushes into things but I have found him to be a good leader despite his hot headedness – I do not know where he gets such trait from...obviously his mother. Giovanni thinks things through a little more, he studies medicine when he is not following his brother around and he is also mute; I doubt even you could mix them up."

Placing his last weapon down, Yusuf looked up at the man, "Mute? Born or..." The Italian frowned to himself, his fist tightening for the briefest of moments but he knew Yusuf had seen it, "I see, at least I will not embarrass myself by mixing them up – do you think you could lend them to me? I could use a couple of well trained Italian Assassins to infiltrate a certain family giving me problems."

"No chance, I already told you that after I give them a good beating I am sending them home. Matteo promised me he would not follow me out here and I will be damned if I let him get away with this." He wasn't about to let the Ottoman leader snap them up for his own schemes, "He said to me on the docks that day, 'I promise you I will not follow you to Constantinople'."

Leaning forward the Turk gave him a sympathetic expression, "Then he has not actually broken his promise. Did you make Giovanni swear the same thing"

"...No."

"Then, my dear, elderly Master, you can not be angry because Matteo did not follow you here, he followed his brother who was under no such oath." Ezio blinked slowly, the words sinking in and causing a nerve in his jaw to jump, the little monsters had tricked him! No wonder Matteo had obeyed so easily because they had it all planned out.

Standing up the older man started toward the door, Yusuf asking where he was going, "I am going to go burn all the codex pages I bought here for you."

"Ezio!" Yusuf jumped up from his chair and chased after the fleeing Master, "Ezio! Wait! I will trade you my children for the codex – get back here you old badger! Two children, no three! Ezio!"


	4. Chapter 4

Another two weeks passed by on the ship, Matteo had stayed glued to his twin's side for a couple of days before flitting off to woo the young woman he was interested in and Giovanni was pretty certain there was another woman too, As for him and Devrim; things were slow. And Giovanni had practically bitten his bottom lip raw with worry – the Turk was going to lose interest. Every time the older man touched Giovanni, the Italian would flinch or jump, he was over anxious all the time and Devrim was being so very sweet by giving him space – what he needed was to be ravished. Today he wanted the Turk to take him, it was the perfect opportunity because there was no way that Matteo would return to their room until noon the next day.

Devrim sat on his bed reading a battered old book, he'd been engrossed in it for hours and Giovanni almost felt bad that he was planning to disrupt him. The Turk was wearing his sleeping clothes, his robes and weapons stashed under the bed with the twins own robes, Giovanni had stolen his brother's trousers, which were definitely a little tight – how did Matteo not lose circulation? - he'd also dug out the high collared shirt he wore under his robes to hide his neck and he had very nearly brushed his hair more than once today until he realised he was behaving like a teenage girl. So it was time to man up.

He carefully plucked the book from Devrim's hand, marking the page and placing it on the floor. The Assassin looked up at him with confusion, "Uh...Giovanni?" The Auditore was still amazed that he'd found a gorgeous man who wanted him, that didn't care that he was mentally screwed up and would be nothing but a headache the longer they knew each other. "Are you alright?" Rolling his eyes at the man, Giovanni placed his hand under Devrim's chin and tilted it upward so he could kiss him, he ran his tongue along the Turk's bottom lip and the other pulled him closer. He was pushed into the mattress and Devrim wasted no time working on opening Giovanni's shirt, his lips pecking at the exposed skin as it was revealed and he seemed pleased to see one of his old bite marks still on his shoulder. "I was wandering what you were up to. Your best shirt, leather trousers that hug every bit of you and had me admiring your arse all day, the extra attention you paid to shaving and how many times have you tied and untied your hair today before leaving it loose? Are you trying to seduce me, Auditore?" Giovanni chuckled raising an eyebrow as if to say, 'did it work?'

Straddling the younger man, Devrim began on the laces of the too tight trousers, "I demand you never return these to Matteo and learn to belly dance in them," he tugged on them, trying to pull them over Giovanni's hips but they would not budge, the Italian reached down to loosen the ties on the thighs of his trousers, a smirk on his lips at Devrim's eager pulling on the ties and then threw them across the room in triumph, "Nothing will stop me from getting my hands on your skin." Kissing along Giovanni's collar bone, Devrim let his hand wander down to the hardening length between them and stroked teasingly, enjoying the moan the Italian made, "This is our perfect opportunity to be together undisturbed," Giovanni panted at the attention to his cock and pulled Devrim's face closer so that he could kiss him hard. Gaining a whole new appreciation for the man's beard, he moaned into the other's mouth as he enjoyed the rough scratch against his freshly shaven skin and the way he was forced to submit to an eager mouth with an even more eager tongue. He tasted delicious, like the sticky dates he had stolen from the ship's cargo, Giovanni's pushed his tongue against Devrim's, moaning again as he tried to gain some sort of control – with little luck when his manhood was squeezed lightly. The Italian looked into mischievous silver eyes and knew he would have to fight harder if he wanted any control; a spike of heat shot straight to his groin at the thought of being dominated by the Turk. He pulled at the man's clothing, Giovanni letting his hands roam down covered muscles until he reached the hem of the linen under shirt and pulled it up, unfortunately that meant the delicious friction on his cock had to stop so that the material could come off.

"Just remember not to be intimidated by my manliness, not everyone can look this gorgeous – mmph," He had to kiss Devrim to shut him up; the man loved the sound of his own voice, Giovanni was sure of it, though the Italian had to admit he liked to hear the rough accent when it was whispering those filthy things to him. For now he wanted to explore Devrim's body whilst he was being compliant. Tearing his mouth away and grinning Giovanni used his legs to roll them over on the bed, very nearly toppling them off it, "And I thought you were shy." A playful pull was administered to Devrim's chest hair causing him to grunt but he kept his mouth shut as Giovanni went about tracing muscle and scars with his hands first and then ducking down to nip at dark skin. It was another thing that made the man irresistible to the Italian; Devrim's voice, Devrim's skin, Devrim's eyes and Devrim's rough moan. Just Devrim in general.

He chided himself internally, he was behaving like a girl and that was enough to make him blush. Gold eyes travelled along the body beneath him, unsure of what the other would like most and that was when he remembered the sensitive cluster of scars his lips and tongue worked together to create small bruises across Devrim's chest, teeth scraping teasingly over an erect nipple each time he got close enough but pulled away each time the man beneath him arched toward his mouth. Giovanni had used the distraction to untie the Turk's trousers and pulled them from his hips with a wicked glint, "What are you going to do now that I am naked?"

Devrim thought Giovanni would be hesitant now, that his inexperience would make him relinquish his control, there was a dark glint in the Italian's eyes, leaning down he gave a broad sweep of his tongue from base to tip of Devrim's erection. Devrim bucked his hips and gasped loudly at the unexpected move, "G-Giovanni!" placing his hands on Devrim's hips to stop any further movement, the Italian wrapped his lips around the tip and gave a playful suck, pleased by the strangled noise he heard he moved his mouth to suck and lick along the hard shaft standing proudly before him.

0

Devrim clenched his teeth together as he felt a hot mouth take him in completely, every inch of him enveloped in moist heat to the back of Giovanni's throat; he hadn't thought Giovanni had this kind of skill, it took practice to do this. Then the younger man swallowed around him and Devrim's toes curled, his hands shot into brown hair and pulled spasmodically as the overload of sensation made him keen loudly. Devrim wanted to push into the mouth torturing him so sweetly but couldn't with the force holding his hips down - how was Giovanni doing this to him? Even the man's tongue was sinful as it helped force wanton moans from Devrim. Giovanni sucked at the length until it came from his lips with a pop. "F...fuck..." Devrim's body tremored slightly as he tried to get his voice to work. That was not something a first timer could usually do, it took practice to swallow an entire cock and the Italian had taken him like it was easy. Giovanni's cheeks were flushed red and he was gulping in air like a fish on land; he hadn't been able to breathe properly whilst pleasuring the Turk. The Italian Assassin was quite proud of himself it seemed, Devrim was not surprised at the self satisfied smirk, making another tremble was a worthy achievement. Tucking some of his hair behind his ear, Giovanni went back to the task at hand, this time using the very tip of his tongue to wriggle along the dribble of pearly liquid beginning to trail down Devrim's cock. He gave a little grimace at the taste and texture, though he made no real complaint, "You do not have to..."

Devrim hissed lightly and his body tensed at the feel of teeth catching the crown of his length. It made the other pull away with a sheepish look and he would have apologised if Devrim hadn't of leaned forward and licked along his now swollen lips, "I will teach you a few tricks next time, güzel - I am supposed to be the one making you feel good." Giovanni opened his mouth obediently to the invading tongue, sighing as it rubbed against his own before retreating, "I want you." The Turk said lowly, his nose gently following the curve of Giovanni's ear all the while gently turning them on the bed until Giovanni was on his back. Giving one of his most charming smiles, the one that made his eyes crinkle and Giovanni swallow hard. "You lay there and moan prettily, let me do all the work...if you want to stop then just say so – I mean...you know what I mean, let me know. We do not have to do this tonight." Though the Turk would die if he was cock-blocked again. Reaching under the pillow, Devrim pulled out a little jar with a corked top and placed it out of the way but within reach, next he knelt between lean thighs and smiled again at the nervous inhalation. What had happened to his confident, sexual deviant of a few minutes ago? "I will look after you," He said as he opened the jar out of sight and dipped his fingers inside, "Just relax for me, güzel." The older Assassin kissed a tense jaw until Giovanni let out a breath, letting his body uncoil with every kiss and rub of inquisitive lips along his neck, a calloused thumb rubbed against a stiff nipple until a whine escaped him, "Sakin ol, Giovanni, do not be so nervous."

Giovanni's breath hitched at the cold feel of slick fingers rubbing against his entrance and again Devrim seduced him with his clever mouth. Easing his index finger into the other's tightness, doing nothing more than teasing the hole until Giovanni relaxed – which didn't seem to be happening any time soon. "Have you never spoken to anyone who has done this before?" Giovanni bit his lip and shook his head before gesturing to him, Devrim avoided eye contact for a moment, "I do not have the right experience of being the submissive one; I will make you feel good."

00

_Leonardo was hesitant, not sure how to bring the subject up without making the young man bolt. But he was never one to mince his words, "Giovanni...this is a little awkward but now that you are...getting involved romantically with others – I should really give you some advice." The young Giovanni physically flinched and stared down at his boots, hearing Leonardo laugh at him made the boy scowl and he would have walked away if not for the deceivingly strong grip on his wrist and an order to sit back down – which he did so like a kicked dog. The blonde waited until a glimmer of gold glanced his way before speaking, "I am not going to sugar coat it for you – it will hurt. It will be uncomfortable but as long as you are prepared properly there will also be pleasure after the initial breach." The young man paled slightly at the thought, "You can talk to me about this, Gio, to be honest I am not even going to give you the choice in this matter, I am going to give you instructions on how to prepare a partner and a few tips on how to relax if you end up being taken."_

_Giovanni wanted to cry in humiliation, how many sixteen year old boys were sat in their uncle's workshops learning how to have sex with another man – it was even worse than when Ezio tried to teach them about sex. Only this wasn't going to end in his father throwing him into a brothel and fleeing like a coward, "You will thank me for this one day." And with that disarming smile the artist had, Giovanni was tortured with diagrams._

00

Devrim was looking at him with concerned...why was he looking at him like that? What had he missed as he tried to remember all the advice he had been given four years ago "...do you want me to stop, is it too much?" This was only slightly more mortifying than his previous thoughts; he had been concentrating so hard on all the things Leonardo had told him about sex with a man that he practically forgot where and what he was doing. "Whatever you were thinking of was very effective, Gigi, though I wish for your attention now,'" He wriggled the finger he had worked inside the younger man and Giovanni tensed around the digit, "You did not even notice, did you?" letting out a shaky breath the Italian shook his head, "Are you alright?" He nodded, "Good to know." Devrim muttered whilst working a second finger in, stopping at his second knuckle when he saw the pained wince shoot across Giovanni's face, "Bear with it for just a moment, Gigi." He pushed a little deeper and with a prayer he wasn't about to get knocked out, curled his fingers toward himself. Giovanni's hands scrabbled at the sheets of the bed, clawing the material as he bucked onto Devrim's fingers, his mouth opening to let out a short gasp of pleasure – what was that?! The other man stroked the small bundle of nerves again and again until Giovanni was mewling and thrusting his hips against the scissoring digits inside him.

Never in a million years had the Italian thought he could enjoy this, that his whole body would light up with blinding, mind numbing pleasure. He could feel his balls tightening as pre-come dribbled in a steady flow from his tip – he was going to come like some horny teenager, "W-wait...Dev...!" Grabbing Devrim's wrist he gasped and panted as he tried to calm himself, "Too much..." His prostate was left alone but the careful stretching continued; a third slicked finger wriggled past the tight ring of muscle. This time it did hurt, Giovanni tried to concentrate on the what felt good, his right hand wrapping around his length unconsciously to distract from the burning sensation.

"Look at you," Devrim said as he watched the other work himself, "Behaving like a common whore after acting like a scared virgin, bucking against my hand as you swallow my fingers whole." The Turk grinned as he watched a violent shiver travel through Giovanni's body, "I could tell you the recipe for cake and you would still shiver at my voice." He'd figured out what his voice could do to the Italian , using it now as another distraction as he loosened the almost vice like grip on his fingers. He worked patiently until he had Giovanni arching and panting desperately for him, the man's nails scoring his back as he tried to hang onto his control and Devrim couldn't wait any more. He removed his fingers to the sound of whine and replaced them with his cock; Giovanni breath caught and the Italian winced at the intrusion. It hurt and Devrim knew it would but he also knew it would get better, he just had to show the younger man that, "Breathe..." The Italian was so tight around him that the older assassin knew this had to be a little more than the other could handle, "Gigi...? Look at me."

" 'm fine." He gasped out in one breath. Sighing, Devrim finger combed the long strands of hair from the younger's face, leaning down to lick the tears that had escaped the clenched eyes.

"No you are not – get used to it, breathe properly and this will get better. You will suffer less." And as if to prove it the Turk stroked the flagging erection between them; Giovanni's body relaxed just the slightest bit of extra stimulation, able to take a little more of Devrim's length. "Remember what I said? Let me do all the work and I will have you writhing in no time." It was slow going at first; Giovanni's body accepting the intrusion the more he relaxed, the friction on his cock coupled with Devrim's lusty timbre in his ear making the pain bearable enough for him to take all of the man. For Devrim it was torture, he wanted nothing more than to plough into the vice like grip around him and revel in the heat of velvety walls pulsing around him – he would take Giovanni hard in the near future but this would take a little coaxing. He rocked his hips shallowly at first, silver eyes ever watchful of the pained face before him as he ground against the stretched ring clutching and twitching over his girth; dropping his head to a tanned shoulder with a frustrated moan, Devrim couldn't help but bite down in an effort to keep control. It caused the Italian to arch his back and then shiver as he gave an almost pleased whine, letting his hands caress up a tense arm which was supporting the Turk's weight and up along the cluster of scars on his side, Giovanni shut his eyes "You wanted to wait, I was the one trying to move, idiota." His eyes shut as the other pulled out barely an inch and pressed back inside slowly, testing his resolve. Breathing out harshly through his nose, Giovanni let his ankles cross behind his partner's waist and when the next push in came - he saw stars. It happened again and caused Giovanni to moan in surprise.

Devrim was relieved to have found the perfect angle so quickly, worried that he would agitate the Italian the longer he took to find it. Starting slow and shallow the two men fell into a heady push and pull as they got used to each other, until Devrim was able to enter a little deeper, a little harder. A strangled sound sat deep in the Turk's throat when the younger clamped down around him, "D-do not do that!" He saw a smirk flicker across Giovanni's lips and in revenge gave a firm thrust on the next push; Giovanni tossed his head back onto the pillow with a silent cry in reaction. The younger man was getting used to it, the awkwardness of a few minutes ago dissipating with every rub against his insides. It still ached, being stretched wide over a hard, throbbing cock – even the feel of Devrim inside him was becoming natural, every twitch and contour stroking deep within him was maddening.

How could he not squeeze around Devrim? Especially when the action was chipping away at the careful control Devrim thought he had over his own body. Giovanni wrapped inky waves of the Turk's hair around his fingers, pulling him closer so that their skin was sliding against the others, his mouth adding a new overwhelming sensation, "Wait..." Giovanni choked out,

"No."

"Please, wait." He was going to lose it, the lips and teeth on his neck, the hand pumping his aching length, the beautiful friction of Devrim's cock as it delivered long, smooth thrusts; Slow pulls and hard, fast pushes. He was practically shivering with too much sensation, "Wait."

"No." And the older assassin began a faster pace, pleased when his partner's hips rolled with the movement, "I said I was not going to let you hold back." He sat up, his free hand grabbing Giovanni's thigh and lifting it effortlessly as he snapped his hips forward. Silver eyes watched, half lidded, as Giovanni's body arched and he saw long fingers claw into the sheets, again no sound came from his open mouth but the look of rapture was enough to warrant another slap of skin on skin. "I said I would have you writhing," and that was exactly what he had the Italian doing – making such a display that Devrim wanted to see it again, every night for the rest of his life. He could tell the other was close too, every tanned muscle was tense, the turgid length in his hand was weeping continuously, throbbing strongly against his palm, and then there was the near death grip around him. His entrance gripped and swallowed Devrim every time, like it was the most natural thing in the world, "F-fuck!" Shutting his eyes the Turk swallowed thickly as bolts of pleasure shot through his body; the image arousing him more than he thought it should have.

Releasing Giovanni's cock, he gripped the thigh still around him and almost had the Italian doubled in half as he began to pound into him with abandon. He could feel short nails scoring his back and chest until he could feel the sting of sweat in bleeding welts, his hair being gripped and pulled, a mouth on his chin and jaw – it appeared Giovanni was flexible – he had wanted to watch the Italian lose it, he couldn't open his eyes though, he wanted to hold out just a little longer. Wanted to listen to the broken gasps and moans being ripped from his new lover.

Where Devrim wanted to hold on Giovanni wanted to shatter, he grabbed at any part of Devrim's body he could reach to anchor himself and lost any control of his body as he desperately met every thrust with one of his own. Giovanni was dizzy with pleasure and every nerve in his body was burning, his muscles had started to cramp but he didn't care, "D-De...Devrim! ...nnn...!" One, two more harsh thrusts and Giovanni was done.

Honey coloured eyes rolling back into his head, even with his eyes so tightly shut he could only see bright lights dancing on the backs of his eyelids. He felt so tightly wound as he came, that when the aching and spasms of his body finally subsided Giovanni could only go limp, his world going dark, and whimper as someone milked the last of his release from him.

When Giovanni came to, he could only sigh in what felt like exhaustion and adrenalin and perfection, something rough was caressing his stomach and he cracked an eye open to find out what was running over his sensitive skin, "Ah, I thought I had killed you," Devrim smiled at him gently. "You were only lucid for a minute or so, do not look so worried." Did he look worried? He had blacked out hadn't he? "You sort of just...melted. Moaning quietly and holding onto me like you were afraid I would vanish. I thought you were going to cut the circulation in my penis off." The Italian blushed brightly, clenching his abused hole and missing the other's presence inside him.

"Was it too much at once for you? Next time I will take better care of you instead of letting my lust control me – I just wanted to see you lose it...but I bet you do not remember your name right now!" Devrim continued to wash the messy release from the other's skin, satisfied enough to throw the rag aside, having already cleaned himself whilst Giovanni was unaware of the world. "Gigi...?" a pair of tired eyes peered at him, evidently displeased with the new pet name, though the younger man noticed the somewhat...regretful look in Devrim's eyes and his heart began battering against his chest – if Devrim told him it was over...

"Hey, hey," The Turk stroked hair from his lover's face having seen the panic cross his flushed features and understanding, "Relax, I just wanted to ask if you were in pain...there was blood...I was a little rough on you, forgive me?"

Giovanni nodded, he was sore now that the high from his orgasm was fading but he didn't feel abused and he was perfectly content. Devrim sighed in relief, his charming smile lighting up his face as he curled up against the Italian's side, "Would you like to go again?" Devrim propped himself up onto his elbow and laughed at the adorable expression of horror on Giovanni's face, "Light weight."

000

Matteo choked a little on his bread, swallowing a large chunk instead of chewing like a regular human being but he was starving. Devrim gave him a firm slap on the back to help him, "Did your woman not feed you?" the man asked. Matteo had come back with an armful of food to add to their normal rations and had so far eaten like a ravenous wolf, even Giovanni was surprised.

"Thanks," he said after swallowing, "Well, dinner did not go as planned, Stephanie the blonde saw me with Helena the brunette and there was a little cat fight. Luckily Madeline the sexy older woman came over, told them that little girls were not enough for a growing boy like me and promptly dragged me to her bed...I am exhausted. Then she kicked me out before breakfast so she could entertain that Spaniard bastard with the 'talented tongue' – I am much better looking by the way – I crossed paths with...what is her name...Frances...Federica...Sarah! Sarah the red head and off I went to her room." He picked up an apple and nearly ate the whole thing in three bites, Devrim and Giovanni exchanged impressed looks, "She gave me her lunch because she is eating with her husband and friends in a different cabin."

The Turk shook his head a tiny bit, not sure if he was supposed to be in awe or disgusted, "Four women on the go and one of them is married...do you have no shame? What is wrong with liking one woman and concentrating on just her?" He said it just casually enough that it would not sound like a judgement.

"I was charming, she came onto me and I did my thing – it is her place to be ashamed, not mine. As for the others, I told them from the start I wanted company and that I was not monogamous." He leant back against the wall, resting his hands on his knees as he stretched his sore muscles, "I have plenty of time to fall in love; I am only twenty after all. Ha, three women on my birthday. That is so dull!" Usually he would be nursing a hangover and trying to untangle himself from a bed of women the morning after his birthday, it was a little depressing. Matteo raised his eyes to see that this time it was Devrim choking on his food and Giovanni was hitting the man's back with concern, "Why are you choking?" He asked amused.

Devrim stared at the older twin with wide eyes and an open mouth and then looked at the younger man the same way, "I completely forgot it was your birthdays! I am so sorry, my friends...I did not even wish you a happy day."

"Well, you did not really see me yesterday," Matteo shrugged, "It is still his birthday though, do not feel too bad, I am sure Vanni will think of something more he wants." His younger brother tilted his head at him, the universal sign for, 'what is that supposed to mean?' "Nothing. Just making conversation – not that you are too good at that."

"Matteo." The Turk sounded offended and it made Matteo roll his eyes, "Was that really necessary?"

Once again Matteo seemed nonchalant about it, "Of course." Getting up he ruffled the younger's hair and headed to the door, "We tell each other everything on our minds." Catching Giovanni's eye Matteo smiled sweetly at him, "No secrets, right?" and then he was gone.

The Turk's eyebrows drew together as he pondered Matteo's behaviour, it seemed odd. But then the man had seemed to have wanted to say something to Giovanni since he'd returned. He had commented on the scratches across Devrim's chest and back, asking him the lucky woman was and then he had glanced at his sleeping in Devrim's bed and smirked, 'I bet he stole your bed whilst you were sharing someone else's!' Giving a boisterous laugh, Matteo had then sat on the bed and shook his twin's shoulder. After that Matteo had seemed a little off. Giovanni knocked the other Assassin's shoulder, pointing to the door, then his head and then gestured between the two of them, "Matteo knows about us?" he nodded quickly, looking distressed as he chewed his bottom lip; Devrim brushed his thumb under the lip to get him to stop, "How? He thinks I was with a woman last night...you are just paranoid."

The Italian pulled away from any advance the man was planning and snapped, "No!"

"Alright...alright, güzel," Devrim grabbed Giovanni's hands, giving them a squeeze in an effort to calm him, "He has not said anything, not directly anyway. He is your brother, Gigi, maybe he is hurt that you did not tell him – if he was disgusted by us then he would have kicked off, he would have said something about it...or punched me in the face. How did he figure it out though?" With a sigh Giovanni pulled the collar of his top down to reveal he shoulders and collarbone, his tanned skin was covered in dark bruises that Devrim had sucked into his skin throughout the night. "...Birthday gifts? Bet no one has ever given you those before or had sex with you several times...oh Giovanni." Devrim threw his arm around his lover's shoulder and pulled him into his side, "I think maybe Matteo has been suspicious for a while. He has not showed any displeasure until now and I gave him hassle about his million girlfriends, perhaps I upset him? Let me go talk to him."

00

Giovanni had put up a bit of resistance, not wanting Devrim to seek out his brother but after kissing him stupid for a few minutes the younger man did not resist much more than that. Matteo had nearly caught them together so many times that he would have to be blind or stupid to not see what was going on. Perhaps he couldn't handle seeing the marks on his brother, maybe he was questioning himself on his brother's sexuality – it was probably a shock but the words he said before leaving...Devrim had seen and heard hurt in the older Auditore. He was upset that Giovanni hadn't trusted him with such a secret.

This really wasn't what he needed now that he had slept with Giovanni; it could scare the younger Assassin off. If Matteo told him to stay away from the Turk then Devrim was certain Giovanni would do it. Twins were loyal like that. The Italian was leaning against the side of the boat, out of the view of others but a perfect place to see people coming close without being seen himself. "It is not fair to take cheap shots at your brother. I am actually quite disgusted to be honest."

"Ha!" Matteo turned around to face him, his whole person oozing with concealed rage, his hands shaking with it, "Honest? For a man who seems to be all for honesty and always doing the right thing, you lie every minute of the day. What lies have you told my brother to get him in your bed? Did you tell him you loved him? That you will be together forever and you will never leave him?" Scoffing at his own words Matteo continued, "Vanni is a sensitive guy, I know he has never had a girlfriend...that he probably never will. I know that he is – was a virgin; so you coming along being charming, treating him like something fragile and being oh so understanding about everything, I bet it was so easy to seduce him. When you throw him aside - "

Devrim interrupted him, "No. Stop there." his tone was firm and clipped, not wanting to get swept up in an argument, "It was not like that. I told him from the start that this was not serious, we are no different that you and your women."

"You are both men! That is nothing like what I am doing – he is my brother and you are taking advantage of him! I...I do not even..."

"So what if we are both men? Is that a problem for you? Are you going to throw stones, Matteo?" The Turk was getting angry now, he was being accused of leading his lover on, of being wrong and he wasn't going to stand for it, "Would you throw stones at your own twin because you are so narrow minded?"

"I did not mean that." He shot back, standing tall now that Devrim was getting hostile too, "I...I am not blind. I could see the way he looked at you, I saw you carefully avoid each other in my presence, I heard the endearments and I woke up alone in that room. I am not here to throw stones. I love my brother, he can have sex with animals for all I care but I am not going to let people like you hurt him"

What was that supposed to mean? They had gravitated closer to each other with every word exchanged, instinctively sizing each other up and ready to deflect an attack, "People like me?"

"The kind of person who tells people they are a distraction and it is simply sex, the kind of person who says that and then soothes them after a nightmare, who cuddles up with them in secret little hide aways – you make people fall in love with you and then leave. Are you scared of commitment, Devrim? You lead them on and then run away."

"Says the person who ran away and left him to die with his mother!"

Matteo couldn't say a thing, shocked at the outburst and how hard it hit him. "...I..I did not..." And he looked so dejected as he said it, all animosity gone, "I went to get help, I had a concussion...did Giovanni tell you that?" He gave a dry chuckle, almost disbelieving in sound but his eyes gave away his hurt,"He thinks I abandoned him?"

Devrim hesitated but felt spite prickle his throat despite his effort to keep his cool, "You ran away like a coward."

"I...I was seven! I had to leave to get help!" Matteo couldn't stop himself from lashing out this time and connected a glancing blow to Devrim's jaw. They were throwing punches and rolling on the deck seconds later, fighting like angry wolves as they snarled and tore at the other. "Why would he tell you that?!" Matteo's thumb dug into Devrim's neck, close to his shoulder – a pressure point that cut off the strength in his arms. It gave him enough leverage to gain the upper hand and punch the man square in the jaw, "I could not protect him then but I can and I will now."

The Turk elbowed him in the ribs and rolled away, hunched low in preparation for the retaliation sure to come, "You are right, he did not say that but it is probably why he never told you his secrets"

Matteo hesitated, they were evenly matched and already sailors were beginning to gather at the disturbance they had caused by knocking barrels over during their fight. They straightened themselves out of their fighting positions and merely tried to stare the other down, "What is so special about you? You were not the one to pick him up when he fell apart – you will not even be around in a years time."

"No, I will not." Devrim said placative, "You will though and if you would rather be angry and jealous than his brother; no wonder he tells you nothing."

extending his hand in a peaceful gesture, the Turk hoped this would be the end of it. Grudgingly, Matteo took it, yanking the other toward him and burying his fist into his stomach, "Hurt my brother and will castrate you.." Letting the Turk sink to his knees with a pained groan, Matteo stalked off.

00

The twins spent time talking, Devrim leaned against the wall as he watched them but got very kittle of what they were saying. Matteo amd Giovanni spoke mostly in their own version of sign language or Matteo's Italian was so speedy that Devrim couldn't follow it easily. It seemed to be good talk though, Giovanni hadn't been able to look his twin in the eye at the beginning, seeming ashamed of himself or more likely terrified his brother would reject him – Devrim knew that feeling and he couldn't help grinning like an idiot at the relief on his lover's face as the conversation progressed.

It was almost worth getting beat up, he coughed into his hand and winced at the pain in his stomach – he was just glad that Matteo was going to have a fantastic black eye.


	5. Chapter 5

Giovanni stared at his lover's back for a long moment as the man checked his papers as usual, he was so paranoid about losing them that he checked them several times a day, and a disturbing thought crossed his mind; were they lover's? It had been almost a week since they'd had sex and Devrim seemed to have lost interest in him...was that all the Assassin had wanted or had Matteo scared him off? Devrim wouldn't back off so easily, he had taken so much time in pursuing him that in a mere month Giovanni was in such adoration of the man that it hurt, why go to that effort for one night stand?! Giovanni cleared his throat and smiled when he saw Devrim glance at him for a brief moment and a tight smile was given back. Why did those eyes look so guilty? Knocking on the wall called Devrim's attention back to him and he asked in his own way, 'Have I upset you?'

"No, güzel," In a blink the Turk was in front of him, hands holding his face gently and that fake smile he had been using lately was in place. "I am sorry if I made you feel like I was." A kiss was placed on Giovanni's head and Devrim retreated back a couple of steps, "I think I am a little bit ill..."

Giovanni opened his mouth in surprise, not expecting that at all but considering he had hardly seen hide nor hair of the man in the last week it was easy to miss. He could see it now; Devrim's dark skin seemed pale, he hadn't been moving with his usual grace lately, he had been sluggish since the morning and Giovanni couldn't recall seeing him eat anything since the day before last. Reaching for him the Italian began to worry, berating himself for not noticing sooner and decided to find out what was wrong exactly.

"I just need to rest." Devrim avoided the man's touch, pretending not to have noticed and fell onto the bed with a huff. "Forgive me?"

Giovanni pretended not to notice the brush off but followed the other, sitting down beside him and undoing the robe clasps – another oddity, Devrim had started to dress in full assassin regalia lately, minus his weapons and belt but a far cry from the trousers and loose tops he had worn before. The Italian had only wanted to make Devrim comfortable so he could rest, again Devrim was forced to brush off the unwanted touch, "I am cold...can you..." seeming to think hard for a moment he asked tiredly, "Can you get me something to eat? The kitchen seems like miles away right now."

Pretending nothing was wrong Giovanni nodded, quickly brushing hair from the Turk's forehead and then getting up he left the cabin quickly. He rested against the door after closing it and tried to calm the panic clawing in his gut, Devrim had a fever and had probably had it for a little while... He had to convince himself it was nothing. A tap on his shoulder nearly made him jump, instead his instincts took over and he turned to defend himself; Matteo laughing as he hit the wall opposite, "Did I scare you, fratello?" Giovanni sighed and patted his brother's shoulder for an apology.

0

"What is wrong with you? You better not be contagious." Devrim groaned when he realised the attractive man standing over him was not his Auditore lover, a sharp pain shot through him suddenly and he grit his teeth at the intensity of it. It must have surprised Matteo because the man was leaning closer, "You...really are sick. I thought it was a ploy to avoid my brother or something" The Turk swore at him but his breaths were shallow and the insult didn't seem to have the usual bite to it. "You have been coughing up blood since yesterday, I noticed you washing it off your hands and you left the room last night practically choking. "If you will not let Giovanni look at you then at least see the ship's surgeon."

The door began opening and Matteo moved away a fair distance and masked his face with indifference in time for Giovanni to walk in. It wouldn't take long for him to notice the tension in the room and after seeing a sweet glance pass between the two, Matteo felt suddenly sick himself and left without so much as a word – his brother was so in love with Devrim that he couldn't stand to see them.

Devrim saw the look in Matteo's eyes and felt another stab of guilt. Or it may have been Giovanni encouraging him to sit up that caused the pangs of pain to shoot through him, whichever it was he suddenly really didn't want to eat. Giovanni wasn't going to take no for an answer, he curled a few dark strands of the older man's hair in his fingers and tucked them behind Devrim's ear, pleading with his eyes as he proffered the food again.

Devrim forced a weak smile and took a bite out of the bread he'd been offered. There were other things but he didn't think he could stomach anything else at that moment in time, hopefully this would appease Giovanni enough to lose the sad eyed looks. Every bite was making him nauseous though and every caress from gentle fingers in his hair making him dizzy. What he would give just to tell Giovanni what was wrong; he didn't want to ruin the twin's bond with each other or lose Giovanni's trust – if Matteo hadn't have landed that last punch...

Laying on his side, his back to the Italian, Devrim curled up a little as the queasiness washed over him in waves. "Can you leave me alone, please..." Giovanni kissed Devrim's cheek before leaving reluctantly, a sinking feeling settling within him.

00

Giovanni spotted Devrim and Matteo walking through the corridor only an hour after Devrim had claimed to be tired and sent him away. What was going on? When had they begun spending time together and who's cabin were they going into? The day after he and Devrim had slept together was when it started to happen, after his brother and lover had fought on the deck – something was going on. With his ear pressed to the cabin door like a suspicious wife, Giovanni listened for anything to even hint at what the two were doing. The sea and creaking of old wood made it hard to hear but...was that...was that Devrim's groan? He had to be imagining it, his mind wild with paranoia and he forced himself away from the door, his mind racing with thoughts and bumping into a young lady as he did so, "Matteo, you never came to my room the other night," The blonde woman pouted as she walked her finger's up Giovanni's chest, "Were you with your new lover? I know you said you wanted to mess around but you move on so fast." The assassin sighed to himself, how often was he cornered by his brother's lovers thinking he was his twin? "Who has had you distracted this week, Matteo?"

He edged away from the pretty girl, shaking his head, pointing to himself as he did so and hoping she would get the hint, "Matteo? Why are you – oh! Oh, oh, oh! You are his twin!" She almost squealed in her excitement, tiptoeing to examine him closer, "You look exactly the same. Hey, caro, do you know where your brother is?" Giovanni leaned away from her and nodded toward the door, he knocked on the door with a smirk and wandered off down the hallway – he heard the woman call Matteo's name as the door opened. There had to be a perfectly reasonable answer as to why the two were sneaking around behind his back and why the Turk was so distant for the last four days.

00

That evening things got worse. Devrim's fever was burning through him, his skin was slick with sweat and he shook constantly as he drifted in and out of sleep. "Here, the water is not as cold as we need but it should help." Giovanni took the damp, cool cloth his brother offered and pressed it to the man's face, "How can he stand to wear his robes when he is so hot? Stubborn guy will not take it off still?" Giovanni nodded absently wiping beads of sweat away and worrying over the pained expression on his lover's face.

It lasted all night, the twins taking it in turns to watch other the Assassin in case he took a turn for the worst, Matteo had had to wake Giovanni up to mix a medicine the ship's surgeon had given them earlier in the day but otherwise he strived to look after the man – for his brother's sake.

Devrim stayed in bed after Giovanni blackmailed him into eating and promising not to move at all before leaving to go through the ship's cargo; hoping to find medicines or something that would help. He left Matteo lounging in his hammock to catch up on some sleep. He was gone for no more than an hour, finding useful medical supplied but nothing truly useful, Giovanni was shocked to see Devrim doubled up in pain on the floor, Matteo at his side holding his hair back and rubbing his back in circles firmly as the Turk heaved into a pail. Matteo looked up and gave him a helpless shrug of the shoulders, "He has been like this for a while now..."

Giovanni took his brother's place in supporting Devrim, feeling the heat coming off the man in waves the Italian glanced at his older brother for help.

"I know, I do not know what to do, he is worse than yesterday...he can not even support himself – I have been trying to think of what is wrong with him whilst he moaned and rolled around in agony for the last hour. Where were you? I could hardly leave him alone like this!" The brothers were starting to panic, not sure how they were going to explain a body to the Ottoman Leader, "I will get the surgeon."

"No!" The twins paused at Devrim's order, "I think it is as you said...I just need water and rest." He leaned against Giovanni heavily, "...I...I think..." he tried to get up but nothing was responding or everything weighed too much for him to lift. Two sets of arms helped him stand on unsteady feet and practically carried him to the bed, "My wound...I think it is infected." Giovanni's hands worked on divesting him of his robes with frenzied speed, he had cleaned that wound, he had sewn it up and treated him – it couldn't be infected. Pulling the man's top up revealed the disturbing truth, the sickly pallor of Devrim's sweat soaked skin made the wound seem more vivid than before, showing dark bruises on his ribs and a massive expanse of a heavy, black bruise swallowing the usually tanned stomach; he was bleeding inside.

Devrim thought it was a little disorientating to see two exactly identical faces looking down at him with the exact same concerned expressions, "Gigi..." His hand rested against the Italian's chest and held onto the shirt with what little strength he had, "The papers...they have to get to my..." Trailing off Devrim saw the little crinkle between the man's eyes and he could swear they were tearing up.

Giovanni glared darkly at Matteo, conveying his displeasure as plainly as if he had shouted before hissing out, "What have you done?" Giovanni's hand grabbed the darker one in his shirt, thumb caressing it gently even as his temper flared.

"I did not mean to hit him that hard – I took him to the surgeon yesterday and he gave Devrim something to stop the bleeding inside, then that dumb blonde knocked on the door and started giving me lip until the surgeon kicked us all out...I thought that would be the end of it."

The younger Auditore was having trouble with what he was hearing, getting angrier with every word out of Matteo's mouth, not only had his twin hit Devrim hard enough to cause internal bleeding but all this time they had known and kept quiet.

If not for Devrim latching onto Giovanni's shirt with the hand not holding the Italian's, Matteo was certain he would be nursing a broken jaw, his brother seething at this new knowledge, Giovanni was unconsciously holding onto Devrim, knowing he should be taking care of the man and not having a fight with his so called brother but he wanted to kill his brother just as much ."I did not want to tell you...I thought I was doing the right thing," Devrim gave out a bitter laugh that turned into a choked sound as he coughed, every cough causing him pain as it agitated his stomach muscles and whatever was going on inside him. A sharp slap on his back helped clear the blockage making him choke, blood spattered across the white of Giovanni's shirt and the Turk gave a violent shake, "Nnn...feels like the last time...I poisoned myself...I ruined your shirt, güzel."

"Surgeon." was all the younger Auditore got out before the body he was holding began to convulse.

000

_E,_

_By now you know we followed you and I know you will be angry but we need help. D sustained an injury whilst in Cyprus and despite treatment it became infected, there was a piece of shrapnel buried deep in the wound and an unfortunate event led to it puncturing something._

_The surgeon has given us a jimson weed tincture but it has had no effect – the convulsions are getting worse and we are at a loss for what to do. Can his father off any advice?_

_Please respond with speed._

_M._

Ezio watched as Yusuf read the letter once and then twice more, the man looking ill as it sunk in and his hand came to his mouth, "Jimson weed." he murmured, "He is going to die if they keep using that on him...he...it is like feeding him poison!" he was half way up the stairs in the Gelata hideout shouting, Ezio assumed he was calling someone but the language was too rapid to follow, two assassins tumbled out of a door and stood before their mentor, Ezio vaguely recognised the young men to be Yusuf's own twins, "Go to the doctor, tell him to make one dose of this and write the recipe down, no questions, just go – fast." The two fled down the stairs as ordered and vanished like ghosts.

"Yusuf?" Ezio asked carefully, making his way t the stairs and looking up at his friend, "I do not think I have ever seen you this scared, amico. What can I do to help?"

Yusuf turned around to face him, "You can write back to your boys," he said after a pause, descending the stairs with stilted movements, like he felt heavy, "Tell them to stop giving him that tincture, Dev is allergic to it and it has made him convulse in the past...his mother used it to spice a meal once and he was sick for days after, I later found out that Datura and Jimson were the same family – you know it takes a medium sized dose to kill a man with Datura, with Devrim it was hardly enough to kill a fly, leaking through his poison blade and onto his skin that nearly killed him." He had ripped out the mechanics of his son's hidden blade that contained the poison to avoid a repeat, if he kept taking whatever it was he was being given then he was going to have a slow, agonising death. "I have sent my two out to have a medicine made, you need to tell your sons that Devrim will become violently ill after taking it but it will get any poison out of his body." He watched Ezio write the note back as fast as Yusuf was speaking, "And I want to know what this 'unfortunate event' was exactly."

_M,_

_Stop administering the tincture immediately, it is making D worse. Give him the medicine provided but be ready for a violent reaction to it. _

_I do not know exactly what has happened but my gut tells me this incident involved you, your brother or even both of you. I need not tell you the damage your cabin mate's death would cause to our entire organisation – our relationship within it. We will discuss things when you arrive and depending on your answers depends how many inches of your life I beat you both to. D's father is seething._

_E._

"Ezio, he is probably already weak from infection..." The older Assassin took the man but the arm and sat him down in the nearest chair, Yusuf looked lost in that moment, like a child who had his favourite toy taken from him, "I can not lose him, I can not lose any more of my family...I have not seen him in over a year, he still has training to do and I promised to help him with his aim...I hate it when they grow up."

The Italian smiled a little at that, "It would be worse if they stayed little. Listen to me, Giovanni "Giovanni spent a lot of time with friends of mine who have medical knowledge. He is not a Dottore by any standard but he knows enough to keep Devrim alive. Do not worry my friend, you said Devrim has good luck and my son is stubborn when it comes to keeping our people alive."

"Devrim mentioned Giovanni in a letter; he called him Gigi...he said they were great friends or words to that effect." Yusuf's grey eyes were still cloudy with worry but he patted the hand on his shoulder and nodded faintly, "Thank you for your concern, Ezio, I know Dev will be back on his feet soon – he has much to do yet and I will be very angry at him if he does not get them done." Ezio had a mission to carry out and Yusuf needed a moment to himself after this news, so they went their separate ways with only a seconds hesitation.

Opening a draw and pulling out a letter Yusuf glanced over it;

_To my very furry Baba,_

_Unless you have gone bald from stress. Have you had time to polish your blade yet or are you still running the world with no time to look after yourself? _

_My cabin mates are well, please assure their father they are healthy and expecting him to kill them on sight. After a few ups and downs with the younger sibling I have managed to piss the older off a few times, luckily he is usually warming someone else's bed for us to really grate on one another. _

_Gigi and I seem inseparable these days though and despite my better judgement and past lessons – I think I am going to hurt myself with this one. Please be nice to him when we arrive – I like this one!_

_All my love, your very attractive child._

It seemed Devrim's 'Gigi' would be willing to look after him and had enough skill to keep him alive. Hopefully he could stop further harm from coming to the Mentor's oldest child. He hoped he could meet the Auditore, that his son would be the one to introduce them and everything would be well again. "Father, we have what you asked for – what is going on?" Yusuf turned to his twins and sighed wearily before beckoning them over with a heavy heart.

000

"Devrim is allergic to one of the ingredients in his medicine," Matteo said to his brother once he'd read the letter, "There is a recipe for a tincture to flush it from his body and the surgeon is working on it now, Devrim's father has sent a ready made medicine to use right away – he will be alright, _fratello_." Matteo finished relaying the message just in time for another set of convulsions to rock through their friend, he helped hold Devrim down on the bed until they calmed and the twins sighed loudly.

Giovanni was doing his best to act as if Matteo were not there, his sole interest being Devrim, stroking back the man's hair in a soothing gesture, using a damp cloth to dab at heated skin and silently begging the man to open his eyes. And Devrim just lay there, limp and pale and lifeless. "Take a break, Vanni, I will tend to him."

It was the first time the younger Auditore looked at his brother in hours and his eyes burned with disdain, there was no way he was going to let Matteo look after his lover – this was Matteo's fault in the first place! Checking the Turk's wound for the hundredth time that day, Giovanni scolded himself; he should have checked for more shrapnel, he should have checked the wound was clean everyday since it had reopened but Devrim persuaded him it was taken care of. Then again, thought the younger man, Devrim sometimes didn't notice when things were hurting him and hadn't thought anything was wrong. "You are being a little dramatic...it was an accident."

Giovanni lunged at the other, no one to stop him this time as he crashed his brother into the nearest wall, hidden blade sitting on his neck, Matteo winced as a keen blade nicked his neck, threatening with his angry eyes a slow death if his twin said one more wrong thing.

"F_ratello mio_." Giovanni let him go and returned to Devrim's side. All Matteo could do was watch and wonder how everything had gotten so out of hand. Matteo should have been satisfied and happy that someone adored his brother and that his brother adored them back; why did he have to land that last punch? How was he to know Devrim would suffer in silence though? If the man had just said something sooner instead of letting himself get so ill then this wouldn't be happening.

There was nothing more to do after administering the medicine, Matteo grabbed the bowl of used water and slinked out of the room to get a fresh one. Finally alone, Giovanni slumped next to the bed and pulled his hair back into a fresh pony tail, he didn't really know what he was doing, assisting the Assassin doctors was hardly enough to let him heal this but he was going to do his damnedest, "I need you to wake up..." he whispered to the man, "I still do not know the simplest things bout you...What your favourite food is, your favourite colour...Your brothers name's, what your mother and father are like...even past lovers...so please..." Obviously there was no response yet but he knew there would be, maybe if he prayed for it? His hands clasped loosely as he knelt by the bed, would it work? Was there someone up in the heavens listening to him?

Matteo returned with the water, placing it down near his temperamental twin, who looked a little shocked after nearly being caught doing something as desperate as praying. As if nothing had happened Giovanni started up again and stood up straight, rolling his sleeves up before dipping a clean rag into the warm water and going about cleaning stale sweat from the Turk. "I know you hate me right now, but I want you to know that I am sorry and that I am an idiot, I want you to know that I love you." Giovanni didn't even look up at his pleading tone, "The letter said the medicine would be quite violent...I will be sat outside that door and if you need me all you have to do is call me." No answer came so he left quietly.

Listening to Devrim's ragged breathing was torture, he stroked the cloth over a strong bicep all the way to the man's fingers, kissing the palm when he was done and nuzzling it against his cheek – pretending Devrim was awake and they were cuddled up in a corner chatting away the hours and kissing each other until they needed air. As he washed over the bruised stomach carefully, guilt gnawed at him as he remembered how he had forced Devrim to eat and what damage that may have caused. He had wanted to help and he couldn't even force Devrim to allow him to examine him; what use was he? A groan escaped the Turk's mouth and Giovanni looked at the man's face with hope that he was waking up, Devrim's eyelids were flickering rapidly, his breathing escalating and recognising what was about to happen Giovanni shouted for Matteo without a second thought.

000

_E,_

_Our cabin mate has asked me to send this message to alleviate any fears his father may have. I know you taught us never to send too many correspondences in a short amount of time but the difficulty in which he had to convey the request has forced my hand._

_The tincture you sent us has flushed the poison out but the resulting seizure has left him out of sorts...he is confused, his limbs will not obey him and he finds it frustrating to say the least, it gets better as the days pass. He is a terrible patient._

_As for how this came about, I can not help but blame myself – I treated the initial wound and I failed to keep check on it, I should have made a more thorough check for shrapnel but I did not and I have no excuse. All in all it was my negligence and a sparring match gone wrong between M and D. I will accept any punishment you see fit._

_G._

_p.s. If it would please you, I can kill my brother to save you the trouble._

Yusuf sighed in relief, "That is good to hear, it takes a little while for Devrim to recover from that medicine, give him a day or so and he will be chatting away like birds in a tree, his movements will take a week or so to return to him fully."

"It could have been much worse all round but things have worked out well, your son truly is lucky." They were sat in the library, waiting for a scouting party to return with information on the attempted assassination of Sulliman when the letter arrived. "Giovanni is being too hard on himself though, stupid boy can not just be pleased that he helped, he will feel guilty about this for the next ten years. I find it a little strange that he would feel this way after a short time of knowing someone, Devrim must be very charismatic to make such an impression on Giovanni; he is usually so shy."

"Charismatic or sleeping with him." He cut himself short at the flippant comment, being so comfortable with Ezio and tired from all the drama he had said something he probably shouldn't have, "That was not appropriate, I am tired and my brain seems to have gone to sleep before my mouth."

Ezio waved it off, "I am not offended, Yusuf. My boys spend all their time in brothels though, so your son is out of luck on this occasion – must be a winning personality."

Yusuf smiled at the compliment but his mind had wandered to the ship, he wanted to be there to make sure Devrim was really doing better, he wanted to make sure Giovanni was being honest. "You always talk about them so differently. Matteo is this naughty child you have to keep an eye on but you enjoy his mischief too much to stop him. Then with Giovanni you are so hesitant...like you are afraid to get close to him but want to encourage him none the less. Is it an Italian thing or are Auditore just complicated people?"

"You are far too observant, Yusuf," Ezio sighed before deciding to explain a few things – it would probably stop any confusion for when he met up with his children. "Matteo stopped calling me Papa years ago, he calls me Padre because I usually have to scold him and he ends up having to pretend to be sorry whilst I pretend to be angry, he is brash, speaks his mind and sometimes acts before he thinks. If he want to yell at you he will, if he wants to punch you he will, providing he can outrun you, if he wants to hug you then he is going to do it until you turn blue. I can read him like a book. Giovanni never grew out of calling me Papa but he and I are...distant." The Italian hated that fact, he wanted to be able to grab the boy and give him affection but Giovanni would fight him, "He observes and acts accordingly, sometimes pulling Matteo out of trouble and it is so hard to know what he wants. There is an unspoken rule between us; I can not touch him first."

"That is a little odd, my friend." Yusuf couldn't even try to hide his curiosity, leaning forward as his grey eyes studied the older Assassin carefully.

It was obvious Yusuf was not going to let this story slide, "I frightened him very badly. I had been discussing an upcoming mission with a friend when Matteo was rushed in by an ally, he was covered in blood from a head wound and he was sobbing so hard it was hard to understand him, one minute he would be awake and alert, the next we were having to keep him awake. He was only seven at the time and we thought maybe he had fallen off a wall..." At that age the twins would climb absolutely everything they could cling to, they usually ended up falling off and crying for him, "Then he told us what had happened; his mother and brother were in an alley by the water and there were men keeping them there. I did not even wait for aid, I thrust Matteo into someone's arms and left, I had never run so fast in my life before and when I got there..." closing his eyes at the memory, Ezio tried to chase it away just as fast.

"She was already dead?"

Ezio nodded, "It took too long for me to track the trail Matteo had left, my anger growing every time I found a bloody hand print on a wall or where Matteo fallen down. I barely remember finding them, there were bodies strewn around me; savaged. I could hear the gurgle of two of the thugs who were barely still alive near to by and I remember being very confused because I could not remember doing it to them...I lost control of myself. And then there was little Giovanni face down in a puddle of his own blood – I was so certain he was dead but he moved, if I had blinked I would have missed it." He had grabbed his child up, pressing hard to the gaping wound as he ran to find help, "He had seen what I had done to those men, he did not know his father was an Assassin and he had never seen that sort of violence before; it took nearly three years before he would come near me again."

"He followed you out here, Ezio. Maybe you should drop the no touching rule – what is the worst that could happen?"

"...He will punch me in the face." The man answered automatically, "And he has a fantastic right hook."

000


	6. Chapter 6

Swallowing was hard for the Turk, Giovanni spoon feeding him wasn't easy either but he was still out of it and dropped everything he tried to hold onto. "My hands are usually the first thing to gain control, sorry to make you do this." A spoon went into his mouth to stop him from talking further, giving the Turk a pointed look that he wanted to look after him. Giovanni was just relieved that Devrim's mind remained undamaged and that he could speak easily now, when all he could do before was make half sentences and try to communicate without much success; he thought he was going to lose him at one point. "I could hear you, you know..." Devrim said as he rested back against the pillows, "I even heard Matteo begging for your forgiveness a few times." Another spoon of food was shoved unceremoniously into his mouth.

Devrim frowned at the other, every time he bought Matteo up, Giovanni shot him down or changed the subject or forced him to eat the unappetising soup. "You wanted to know about my family. I have four brothers and a sister. I am the oldest, turning twenty two back in January, my brother Karamat was born two years after me, he nearly did not make it. A year later my twin brothers were born, Sedat and Seref – I think they put my parents off babies for a while because it was five years before my baby sister, Ece, came along." Giovanni listened with a pleased smile on his lips,

"Lastly was Sef, he died of fever last year, too little to fight it off for long." Feeling his hand being held, Devrim just shrugged a little, as if his feelings weren't important, "My mother died of the same thing; I left for Cyprus after that. I could not bare to see my father so destroyed and volunteered for the mission...It was selfish. I wasted a whole year and missed him terribly – maybe my siblings a little but mostly Baba. My parents got married as soon as they were old enough, they had known each other since they were children and apparently she was supposed to marry a prince but Baba stole her away from Bursa and brought her with him to Constantinople."

Trailing off, the Assassin had to think hard to remember what else had been asked and then made a pleased sound as he recalled them, "My favourite thing to eat is honeyed dates and my favourite colour is gold. Past lovers, you asked that too, my first one was a bastard, second was a merchants son, who felt bad about having sex against a religious monument and spent the rest of his time praying. Third was...I was a bit drunk and he ended up setting his eyebrows on fire at some point..."

Giovanni made a choked sound and signalled for him to stop, it was a little too much to take in all at once. What was his favourite food again? Devrim grinned at the face his lover was making and continued, "Oh, I did not mention my nephew and niece yet or where I lost my virginity, where I like to sleep and I have not told you how many bones I have broken – I thought you wanted to know everything – mmph." Lips had quickly sealed over his and the message was clear; 'you are talking too much'. Devrim groaned, he hadn't touched the other man like this in so long, Giovanni's kiss was needy but so much was passion was being held back for Devrim's benefit. Even when he managed to get his uncooperative hands to rest on the Italian's shoulders and pull him into a deeper kiss, Giovanni wouldn't let go of his careful control. Breaking apart for air, Devrim tried to continue but was rebuked quickly by a spoon in his mouth, "Tease." he grumbled after swallowing.

Panting out a little laugh, the Italian rested his forehead against Devrim's, far too affected by the kiss than was normal, he wanted to climb on top of the older man and devour his lips until they passed out from lack of air. A look from his lover told him that was completely acceptable, "I feel like death but I want you...If we were careful and you were to be on top of me, we could do it – it would mean you doing all the work and I am not sure you are ready for that without hurting yourself - " An indignant sound came from Giovanni, "It is not a challenge, güzel, but I know you would be impatient." He was trying to stroke his hand through the brunette's hair, his movements slow and clumsy, it reminded Devrim that he wasn't quite able, he rested his hand back on the bed as if it weighed a ton, "Not today though, I am tired and you look like crap, you have been awake too long nursing me. You do not want me to become ill because of worry for you, do you?" He didn't like such a cheap trick, "Lay here and take a nap with me, Matteo will continue to guard that door until you allow him back in, you do not need to protect me from anything."

Giovanni glanced at the door and for a second his heart clenched at the sentinel Assassin that was behind it. As he had said, Matteo was waiting outside the door waiting to be called and as the younger twin helped Devrim lay down on his back, putting the pillows he had been using to sit up on in place, Giovanni felt a little guilty. They settled down together, Giovanni's head resting on the man's shoulder and instantly feeling all the stress from the past few days boring down on him. "Forgive him soon."

000

It was a better day for Devrim, his body seeming to have lost most of its lucidness, he wasn't going to be running across the rooftops any time soon but he could move around the room by himself and even though his stomach hurt like a bitch it felt more like overworked muscles. He was still ill from time to time and he missed real food but at least he wasn't dead, the door to the cabin opened and Devrim smiled at the man as he entered, "Did you sleep well?"

The Italian scrunched his eyebrows up suspiciously, "You do realise I am not Vanni, right?" Matteo didn't think there was any sane reason for Devrim to be speaking to him other than mistaken identity. "Should you be walking around?"

The Turk rolled his eyes at him and leaned against the wall, "If I stay in that bed any longer I will lose all feeling in my backside, it will also be no good if I let my body get stiff...I am still an Assassin." Devrim watched as Matteo grabbed a fresh set of clothes and spoke up, "Matteo, where are you sleeping? Come back to this room before I have to strangle some sense into your brother."

Matteo started at that, "You are not fighting because of me are you? Because even though I like women," He gave a slight pout, "I like vagina...like REALLY like vagina. It is practically my life. Kill a Templar, get vagina, complete an information mission, get vagina, do well in training – get vagina paid for by Padre. Why the fuck are you laughing?!"

Devrim was laughing so hard it actually hurt quite badly, he was hunched over with his hands on his knees as he nearly howled in hysterics, "N-nothing...just..." he was trying to stop, really he was but the adorable petulant look on Matteo's face was funny and his insistence on his sexuality to the point he had said vagina five times in less than ten seconds, "_Eğer komiksin_! Really funny...I am dying..." Actually that may have been true.

"You are making fun of me!" Matteo saw Devrim nodding in agreement and really wasn't sure what to make of it – he was being laughed at. He stood there and crossed his arms until the laughing subsided into chuckles and then the occasional snort as Devrim wiped his eyes before straightening up. "Finished?"

"_Evet_..." A snicker escaped him as he said it but he pressed his lips together to contain himself, "Ahem, so...we have established that you like..." a cough, "Women. What point are you making?"

Matteo swore under his breath, "The point I was trying to make is; I like women and I do not understand how a man can feel that way about another man but I accept it as long as my brother is happy – So please do not fight because of me."

"We are not fighting abiut that, you moron, that was last weeks argument - simply put; he does not like me taking your side. Though I honestly see no sides. I just want all this misunderstanding put behind us, I am a jerk, you are an idiot and your brother is stubborn; mistakes happened. I forgive you and you forgive me for the shaky start with Giovanni. All three of us have established that that I am happy having sex with your brother, he is happy I am having sex with him and you think it is really strange but are happy that at least I love your brother while I am having sex with him."

The Italian wanted to gag a little but instead huffed, "You are so straight forward..." Matteo didn't want to hear the word sex and Giovanni in the same sentence, it was one thing knowing his twin was attracted to men but a completely different thing to hear about it. "Do you love him? It seems too soon to claim something like that." Devrim seemed confused if the wrinkle between his eyebrows was anything to go by, "_Amore_...I think your word is...um..._Sevmek_?"

The Turk nodded slightly, "I see." Perhaps the word he used was to strong at this point in their new relationship, "My feelings do not run that deep...I want him to be happy and I am sad when he is sad...Adoration seems a better word for my feelings – is that acceptable?" Matteo seemed to think that was enough; for now.

00

_Ezio was at a loss. Stood silently, staring at a grave as some priest gave last rites to the mother of his children felt surreal. His friends were there of course, his uncle Mario, sister and his mother, who had recovered well over the years, were stood with him. He had failed to protect his family again – from a simple group of thugs. Would he have felt better if it had been a Templar attack to take Carlotta and destroy two little boys world's? "She will come back, right, Nonna?" His guts twisted at the question; Matteo had asked it again and again in hopes that someone would tell him she would...he just did not understand or refused._

"_Ezio," his uncle placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded toward a waiting carriage, "Let me take the twins to Monteriggioni with your mother and sister, they will be safer than you bringing them next week...I think you could do with a break too." That sounded good. For him and the boys, they needed to get away from Venice and the smell of death that clung to the city like fog. _

_Heaving a sigh, the assassin squeezed the little hand in his and walked with Matteo to the carriage, first helping his mother in and then placing the boy on her lap, "You be good for Nonna, do what she says and I will see you very soon." Matteo nodded compliantly and practically nuzzled into his father's hand as he stroked his cheek fondly, "Good boy."_

_Leonardo was stood behind him with Giovanni in his arms. This would be a little harder; the boy came out of his waking coma four days ago, latching onto the artist who had come to visit and not letting go. He cried and fought whenever Leonardo tried to leave, resulting in the blonde taking full care f the child after explaining that it would be better, just until the shock wore down and the risk of Giovanni opening his wound was gone._

_Leonardo could not think of a moment in the past four days he had not been touching the child in some way. Giovanni sat in his lap when they ate, he curled into Leonardo when they slept...when he could sleep, they bathed together, when the man was working then he would sit in his lap or by his feet holding onto his leg. "He has not said a word...it is like he is not even in there...just stares off into the distance. Even when he has nightmares he just cries." The blonde rubbed his chin against the top of Giovanni's head and felt little arms hold a little tighter around his neck, "I tried everything, Ezio."_

"_I know, amico, thank you for trying...what did your friend say?" _

"_Said he was insane, that it was a matter of time before he cracked and lost all rational thought – we are no longer friends." Leonardo practically spat the words out, still fuming about the fight he had had with one of his associates, "It is not true! He needs a little time, imagine what he saw them do to her; he will be alright...your own mother came through it."_

_Ezio looked at his mother as she gently fussed over Matteo, she had been just as unresponsive and even though there was a piece of her missing, a gap his father and brothers left, she was healthy again. "You are right. Leo." The other man gave him a look that said, 'of course I am, I am Leonardo god damn Da Vinci'. "Ready?"_

"_Not at all." Heaving a sigh, Leonardo pulled the child from him and the second Ezio's hands were on the boy to take him away Giovanni let out a whine, hands digging into the artist's clothing. "Gio, let go, caro, you need to go with Papa..." that was when the real crying began and the blonde felt terrible as he worked fingers loose from his collar, "You can not stay with me, I am going away and you will love Monteriggioni – it will be like having your own castle! It is going to be exciting and - " During the struggle, Giovanni had gotten hold of a handful of hair, the little boy knew how to stop them in their tracks._

_Mario joined them and gently began untangling hair from fingers, "Think about Matteo, he will be lonely if you do not come and you are big enough to ride all on your own, I have a horse that will fit you just right." Usually the large mercenary would not stoop to bribing a child but he understood how fragile his great nephew was, "Your grandmother has missed spending time with you too." Leonardo pulled his head back whilst the bigger man distracted the child, "Do you not want to go with your Papa?_

"_No!"_

_All three froze, that was the first thing Giovanni had said in days, "Gio, please go with Papa." Leonardo implored him, finally managing to get him half way into Ezio's arms. _

"_No!" Struggling in earnest, Giovanni began to sob loudly, reaching for the artist with everything he had, "Stay!" Leonardo tried to quiet him, worried about how strained his voice sounded and how it cut out and squeaked the louder he yelled, "Not him!" _

"_Gio..." Ezio let go of him and watched as he clung to Leonardo, "He is bleeding," the Assassin reached for the reddening bandage around his son's neck only to have it smacked away and a pair of wild, golden eyes pin him with a glare, "...Gio?"_

"_No."_

00

"Hey," Giovanni's head turned with the light pressure of Devrim's hand on his cheek, "You look so sad, what is wrong?" He allowed the Turk to place light kisses on his mouth until he felt a smile forming.

He had thought Devrim was sleeping when he laid down beside him on the small bed and had let his mind drift, the memory coming to him for seemingly no reason, The Italian propped himself up on his elbow, reaching for the notebook they kept nearby all the time now. 'I was remembering how I am always so horrible to my Papa, he does not deserve it...'

"You are?" Devrim asked in surprise, "What an odd thing to be thinking of...perhaps you are anxious to see him again."

Giovanni went on to write, 'I think it is your fault.' the younger man's finger pushed against the man's lips to quiet him before he could deny it, 'The stories you tell about your relationship with your father make me a little jealous. I am looking forward to seeing your country and seeing how your brotherhood works – but you know what I am really looking forward to?'

"Um, bomb making?"

'Giving the old man a heart attack when I hug him to within an inch of his life.' Wanting no more talk and feeling braver than usual, Giovanni's hand snuck into Devrim's trousers and an eager set of teeth nibbled his ear,

"You are done talking I see – you are rather frisky lately; that is if your hand around my cock means what I think it does." Giovanni stared down at him with an unimpressed look for the obvious being pointed out, Devrim grinned boyishly at him, sealing their mouths together as he reversed their positions. Dipping his tongue into Giovanni's mouth, he sighed happily at the familiar taste, the familiar feel of another tongue sliding against his own and suddenly he was so glad to be alive. He pulled away and the Italian followed his lips with his own, pressing their lips together twice more until Devrim was too far away for him to reach, "I think I should thank you for taking care of me, güzel." Devrim removed Giovanni's trousers in one smooth movement – delighted that his body was no longer rebelling against him and he could do what he wanted freely.

Giovanni made an involuntary gasp as warmth enveloped the head of his semi erect length, teasing him a little at first before Devrim pulled his mouth away, his tongue giving a broad swipe at the sensitive head before moving to lave the entire length with the wicked muscle. Sucking at the skin between the root and Giovanni's balls, the Turk sent a smug look up at his partner, tongue now teasing and pressing against the prominent vein under the other's cock, "I told you I would teach you a few tricks and you are the most delicious thing I have had in days." It was a slightly backhanded compliment as he had been eating that nasty soup morning, noon and night, "We do not have much time alone tonight, so do not worry if you miss anything." Sinking down upon the other, scraping his teeth along the way just to feel the other tense, tanned fingers slipped into his inky hair, unconsciously giving Devrim a firm push until he'd taken him to the hilt. He gagged for a second and pulled back a little, the older man adjusted his angle until he could take the entire length comfortably. He wasn't so lucky to have a natural talent for swallowing things like Giovanni so this was a little harder than the Auditore would have found it.

Giovanni didn't seem to notice as he panted into the pillows, too wrapped up in his own pleasure to notice a finger rubbing against his entrance and when he did it was already inside him pressing against his prostate making him roll into the sensation. Pushing a second finger in alongside the first, Devrim watched Giovanni arch gracefully and twist his head a little further into the pillow as if trying to muffle his cries, "I want to see your face, Gigi." Another finger stretched him and at the same time a warm, wet mouth wrapped around his length again, the pleasure far outweighing the uncomfortable feel of being worked loose by slick fingers – when had he even gotten the jar of oil from under the bed? The Italian shivered at the dual sensations, hips rocking on instinct to get more and wound the Turk's hair into his fist and giving an accidental sharp yank up when lightning seemed to sing through him.

The older assassin hissed in a breath, his own hand reaching up and digging its thumb into Giovanni's wrist until the pressure point forced his hair to be freed. He crawled up his lover's body, tearing the man's shirt as he went, buttons popping off in all directions and harsh bites rained down on tan skin, "Do you want me to be rough, Gigi?" Devrim growled into his ear, nipping almost painfully, "Because if you pull my hair again; I will turn you over and fuck you so hard you will be unable to sit down for a week." He was interested in the look of sweet agony of Giovanni's face, purely from his voice, that he was too late in noticing legs curling around his waist and flipping them. It seemed the Turk's threat was received a little too well and bright gold eyes were almost asking for that to be a promise.

Finding the jar of oil on the bedside, Giovanni snatched it up, a smug smile forming as he realised how cold it felt and slathered it rather mercilessly up and down Devrim's shaft. The man below him jumped and an indignant sound escaped him – sounding strangely like 'see if I warm it up for you next time'. Well it was his own fault for getting the younger man so excited. Taking hold of Devrim, Giovanni carefully positioned himself and lowered onto the throbbing length pressed against his stretched hole. A whoosh of breath left him as the head opened him and his eyes shut at the discomfort; his bottom lip was pulled between his teeth as he chewed on it as a distraction. He had thought it would be easier this time – it hurt just the same as the first.

Devrim's hands didn't hesitate for a second, firmly taking hold of his lover's hips and stopping his advance, "Get used to it, when it stops being painful; continue." Easy enough to say but he wanted the man to sit down and ride him, he was still deliciously tight like the first time, the only difference being that the Italian was less nervous and relaxing his muscles on near instinct as he took more of him in until they were flush against each other, "Gigi?"

The brunette nodded quietly, Devrim was so deep that Giovanni swore he could feel every inch, he clenched around the intrusion, shivering delightedly at the feel and hitched breath of his partner, a crooked little grin appearing as he did it again.

"I...I told you about doing that," Giovanni huffed at him, Devrim couldn't help teasing him, he was too cute sometimes and the Turk just had to tell him, even if it irritated the man. Other times – like now – the Auditore stopped being cute and turned into every wet dream Devrim had ever had. Giovanni sat up straight, his thighs tensing as he lifted his body up and then relaxed as he let his body carefully slide back down causing them both to sigh or groan. He did it again, more confident this time as he repeated the motion and Devrim's eyes were drawn to the lean body partially covered by the torn shirt, he found it sexier than if Giovanni was naked – those curious glimpses of tanned skin. A flash of muscles working under his stomach, a dusky nipple peeking from the silk material as it began to slip over a bite marked shoulder. If Giovanni was turned on by his voice than he had to admit he was turned on by watching this man just moving. His hips thrust up against the younger man as he was coming down, one of those silent cries contorting his face into a mask of pleasure, slits of gold barely seen through a shield of eyelashes.

0

Matteo left one of his lady friend's cabin, feeling better for the bath and succour of the occupant. It was nice to have slept in a bed for a little while instead of outside the cabin door waiting and waiting for Giovanni to forgive him – he heard Devrim blackmailing his brother earlier and had permission to sleep in the room again. Giovanni hadn't so much as signed a single word to him in days and that had never happened before, a day was the longest – even when Giovanni had stopped talking when they were little he still stayed by Matteo's side. He wouldn't look at him, wouldn't speak to him or even acknowledge that Matteo was there and it hurt. Really hurt.

He was beginning to break apart inside at the thought of his twin rejecting him. With a massive sigh, he walked into the shared room and froze on the spot, his eyes nearly falling out of their sockets. He turned around and sat outside the door, hands over his eyes as if he'd been blinded. "_Mio Dio_, my brother is fucking another man...I saw it...I can not un-see that!"

0

Giovanni paused in his movements, head turning slightly to gaze at the door, "It was nothing," Devrim supplied quickly and rocked his hips upwards hard enough to make his injuries hurt. Anything to distract Giovanni from figuring out his brother had just gotten an eyeful. "It was the bed creaking – I do not care; move!"

The Italian gasped as Devrim thrust into him, forgetting his rational thoughts as he thought about what he should be thinking about. His hands found purchase on the other's raised knees, using them to balance as he tried to find his prostate, their hips making a satisfying slap as skin hit skin. One of Devrim's hands left his hip and curled around his cock, stroking it with every downward thrust, everything intensified with a tiny shift of their bodies, Giovanni throwing his head back in rapture as he felt the familiar jolt of his sweet spot being brushed.

Devrim wanted to watch the Italian ride him all night, wanted to watch his cock being swallowed greedily by Giovanni's tight little hole and he wanted to watch the man gasp and pant his name. But he needed more than this; it wasn't fast enough, wasn't hard enough. Sitting up, Devrim buried himself into the inviting heat of his lover and pushed forward with his body until Giovanni was on his back, legs still gripping Devrim's waist, moaning wantonly as the shift rubbed hard against his prostate. Giovanni's fingers drifted to the bandage around the Turk's middle as a warning.

"Do not care. You feel amazing…better than anyone in the whole world." Devrim pulled out a little and thrust back in jerkily, discomfort shooting through his abused muscles but not enough to make him ever stop. "Hot, tight…you should see the way this greedy little hole grips my cock as I pull out and..." he pulled a little further out this time, "How eagerly it swallows me up again." The Turk's thrust was accentuated with a harsh cry being ripped from Giovanni's throat, "I want to make you scream and moan for me, whether it is silent or - " He lifted the tanned leg over his shoulder and revelled in the loud, desperate, near scream that came from the other, "Loud." It was a little hit and miss but he had just about figured out when Giovanni's voice would work and when it would fail – one day he was going to make the other lose his voice completely from yelling.

Giovanni let himself drop onto the mattress and groaned as his prostate was brushed again, his head digging into the hard bed, his hips rocking up against Devrim's as the thrusts became faster and more forceful. Moaning loudly again and clenching around the intruding organ – loving how Devrim pistoned into him a little harder and loving the shots of fire it sent hurtling through his body. He could feel that heavy cock rubbing his insides, the burn of being pulled tight over the same cock and the constant attention to his prostate, he couldn't think – could hardly breathe.

Devrim smirked in a smug kind of satisfaction that Giovanni was getting so swept up, his head was thrashing from side to side, hair worked loose from the red tie that had held it, His hands were clawing at the the Assassin's hips to bring him closer and those beautifully lewd sounds were sinful. The sweat slicking their bodies stung the scratches they were gradually giving each other in the desperate attempt to hold on to something – anything! Devrim let out a strangled groan as he stiffened first, biting into his lover's thigh as his body locked and he thrust as deep as he could. He forced his silver eyes open so he could watch the man beneath him come hard into his hand, some of it spattering across his stomach and chest. Well worth the pain he would feel later.

00

Giovanni had gotten up early that morning, stretching his muscles and trying not to limp as he walked around the deck. He was definitely more sore than last time, they had rushed into it this time though, perhaps hi body hadn't been s ready as he wanted it to be. "Gigi!" Giovanni turned on his heal to face the man jogging toward him. "Gigi, you are on the wrong side of the ship, this way!" Devrim grabbed his arm and rushed them to the other side, his excitement barely contained as they hit the side of the boat and he pointed forward, "I am home."

Giovanni could see the outline of a great city, the sun shining off it and making it glow as if it were made of gold. Their were small boats and vast ship with bright sails basking at the city's feet and the Italian could have sworn he smelt fresh spices in the air – he wanted to say that it was beautiful or that he couldn't wait to get on land but instead he made unconscious movements of his hands and Devrim laughed at what it meant, "Of all the things I expected you to say - 'I can not wait to climb the big, pointy thing over there' was not one of them. We should start packing, güzel."

The three Assassins finished dressing themselves, making sure their weapons and supplies were ready before packing their meagre belongings. It would not be long now, the ship a quarter of a mile from the docks, everything was ready. "Have you got your papers?" Matteo asked as he brushed his hair quickly, tying it and flipping his hood back up after he'd done, grabbing his boot dagger from his hammock before he left it there.

"Evet," he waved the protective tube in his hand once and placed it in the centre of his bed, "I have everything I came on board with, your throwing knives are still hidden along that beam."

Matteo swore and quickly went about retrieving them, feeling something other than his blades Matteo pulled it down, "You forgot your mask." studying it the Italian frowned, there was no way this thing had good visibility and why did the Ottoman wear them? "I do not get these."

"Some of us have normal lives and families, it is to protect their identity. Baba makes me wear one because of my resemblance to him – the guards like to take pot shots at him." Devrim could read the look on Matteo's face and continued, "Believe it or not the visibility is very good; try it yourself."

Matteo tied it behind his head and looked around the room, surprised at his unobstructed vision he lifted it to rest on top of his head under his hood, "I am impressed and it is easily kept out of the way too." Devrim opened his mouth to warn the Italian that the mask slipped often but it rolled down and hit Matteo's nose. "Ah! _Cazzo_!"

"The cause of many bruised noses." The Turk chuckled, "Whilst you nurse your ego, I am going to see if I can spot my brothers on the docks." Giovanni followed behind him closely, still ignoring his twin, "You can help me look," Devrim opened the door and before either man could step out a small ball rolled into the room with a 'tink', stopping at Matteo's boot. The older Auditore leant down and picked it up, throwing it in the air and catching it like a toy. Throwing his lover behind him, Devrim shouted at Matteo, "Put it down! It is a - !"

0

Devrim pulled Giovanni through the sea water as he desperately tried to swim toward dry land, the explosion had stunned the Italian and made him too disorientated to swim by himself for the moment. He wasn't much better off himself and he could feel the urge to close his eyes for a moment begin to overtake him; he needed to get Giovanni out of the water first and then he could rest a minute. He kept telling himself to move but was sinking in the cool, clear waters, not even aware of when he'd stopped paddling until water rushed into his mouth. Struggling to keep hold of Giovanni and get above the surface, Devrim barely noticed when someone dragged them both up to the surface and the wooden walkways came closer and closer. "Yusuf! Take him!" Devrim fought to hold onto his lover as he was pulled up and away, "Here, make sure he stays awake." And then he was being pulled up by unfamiliar hands out of the water, his saviour climbing out straight after him, "Where is his brother?" Devrim's eyes focussed for just a second and he vaguely realised that Giovanni had aged thirty years, grown a beard, got a scar on his lip and changed his outfit – he hated explosions.

"Is he alright?!" Yusuf rushed over to his barely conscious child and clapped Ezio on the back, the man having swallowed the sea water as he rescued the boys. "How did you spot them so far out? Ah, look at him!" Yusuf swept his son's hair from his face and examined the dazed expression, "He must have been pretty close to the blast to be this confused – Devrim, oi, Devrim, come on, wake up for me." he slapped the younger man's cheek a few times, "I think your boy is alright, we could not get him to spit up the water at first but one of the girls figured it out."

"Then he pulled Giovanni out." At the Turk's confused noise Ezio quickly explained, "Vanni has no gag reflex," then he was gone to check on the younger twin.

It took Devrim a little while before he opened his eyes, he first noticed a familiar, female assassin staring down at him, a relieved look on her face as she helped him sit up, telling him to close his eyes to fend off the dizziness threatening to make him ill. The second thing he noticed was yelling, shrill, panicked yelling that cut in and out of being heard, at first he thought his hearing was going in and out because of the loud explosion of the bomb but as he looked around the walkway, past the civilians yelling and panicking as the ship burned on the sea, he realised Giovanni was being held back by a man in soaking wet, white robes. Giovanni's voice the most strained Devrim had heard it, "Fuck...Help me up before that idiot falls in!"

"I do not think Mentor Ezio would let that happen," She said to him. Mentor Ezio? That was Giovanni's father then? Devrim's head spun at the idea that Mentor Auditore had dragged him out of the water and saved his life, "His brother is still in the water, somewhere, we have a few men looking but it was a big bang." The Turk nodded in agreement, he leaned heavily on her as his vision swam, waiting only until it cleared enough for him to stagger in a straight line before heading to Giovanni.

"Matteo! Let me go! Matteo!" Giovanni fought against the arms around his middle and tried to forcibly drag himself to the end of the walkway, "Matteo!" Where was he? He should be here by now, he was an excellent swimmer, he should have been right behind them. Another pair of arms were around him and someone was speaking into his ear soothingly.

"Gigi, you are hurt. If you go back into the water you will drown for certain." Devrim was holding him back with the help of Ezio, both trying to restrain him without hurting him, "Please calm down, if he is alive we will find him."

Giovanni managed to tear away from the Turk and his father, staring at him open mouthed, "If? IF?! How can you say that!?" He felt his father pull him into a tight embrace, trapping the young man's hands against his chest and squeezing him.

Ezio knew given half the chance Giovanni would be back in the water, he had to hold onto him with everything he had, "Your brother is just fashionably late. Stop fighting, you have half the ship embedding into your skull and you will be no good to him dead!" Giovanni was trying to yell at him but nothing was coming out, he felt one of his son's hands wriggle free and rest on his scar – only then realising his voice had been lost during his rant at Devrim, he stilled in defeat because there was nothing he could do right now, "Have a little faith in Matteo."

Devrim sat on the walkway heavily, his mind reeling still from the explosion, only a little more used to it than the twins were. Someone crouched down beside him and when he looked he had to smile at least a little, "Baba," He threw his arms around the man's neck and hugged him as hard as he could, "I told you not to throw me a party."

"I thought fireworks on a boat would be interesting." Yusuf replied easily as he held his son close to him, getting soaked in the process. "Where is the other Auditore?"

Devrim shook his head at the man, "A bomb was thrown into our cabin, time delayed by a fuse and that idiot picked it up..." The image of Matteo bending down to swipe the object refused to budge from his mind's eye, "He did not know what it was – I should have done something...instead I grabbed Giovanni and flung us out of the room."

Yusuf patted the man's back sympathetically and stood up to glance at his friend, Ezio looked grim, had he heard what Devrim had said? Did he understand them enough to put one and one together? He opened his mouth to say something, anything really, when another explosion went off on the sinking ship, this one more spectacular than the first as its gunpowder cargo went off in the fires. His grey eyes watched as the young Auditore broke free from his father and once more tried to dive into the water, didn't he realise that even if his brother hadn't been blown to pieces with the grenade that he would surely be dead after that. "Ezio, we can not stay here." Guards would be swarming the docks at any moment and the multitude of Assassins come to investigate or help should be making their escapes now.

"Take Giovanni with you, I need to search for Matteo," He knew it sounded like a pathetic whine, Ezio looked miserable at the sound as he held onto his youngest, "He will not know where to meet us..."

"Mentor Auditore," Devrim said lightly, "Matteo...he was holding the grenade when it went off; the guards will execute us on the spot if we stay any longer." struggling to stand, his father moved quickly to support him, "I am sure Baba can spare a few men to look out for him..." Yusuf nodded, letting Giovanni take his son as he went to speak to a few of his men. They started away from the scene; the lover's going as quickly as their injured states allowed them. Giovanni glanced over his shoulder, his father hadn't moved yet, he was searching the water, eyes straining as he used his heightened senses. His right hand was clenched in a fist, Giovanni shuffled to a stop, apologising as he nearly toppled Devrim, clicking at Ezio until he turned. Reaching out his hand, Giovanni waited for his father to stop staring at him like he'd grown an extra head and follow.


	7. Chapter 7

The mood at the hide out was sombre, Devrim sat dejectedly in the corner with his younger brother Karamat stood beside him, occasionally giving him a slap if he looked like he was going to drift to sleep, "Come on Dev, you know better than to sleep after an explosion. Karamat avoided the punch to his leg and smirked when Devrim's sudden move made him groan, "Ahmak."

They watched as Yusuf carefully pulled splinters of wood out of Giovanni's temple with a pair of tweezers. The doctors were all tending to the wounded on the docks and Ezio had nearly taken his son's eye out when trying to help, so that left the Ottoman Mentor to administer first aid. "Karamat, stop winding your brother up." he sighed, he had forgotten how the two brothers niggled at each other, "Ece, can you get your favourite Baba some of that cooling salve?" The fourteen year old girl 'helping him' nodded and ran quickly out of the room, long plait whipping behind her like a tail. "Why is your sister not in the palace today?"

The question was aimed at the man beside Devrim and he straightened, "Ece mentioned to the prince that our brother was returning home from a long trip and he insisted she take the day off, Sulleiman would not take no for an answer – especially when she had gone to so much trouble of arranging his clothing into colour order...And she bit another girl for looking at the prince."

The young girl ran back in and placed the salves down next to her father, taking a cloth and applying some before stepping up to Giovanni and pressing it to his neck, with how sore it looked she knew it was for that. Devrim and Ezio stood quickly, both expecting him to strike out at the child and wanting to intervene. Giovanni grabbed the sides of his chair, the wood creaking in the punishing hold as his body went rigid and flashes of memory assaulted him – He sucked in a harsh breath. Yusuf paused in his treatment, gently tugging on his daughter to bring her away, "Did it hurt?" She asked quietly and watched with large grey eyes as Giovanni held the cloth to his scar, his knuckles still white from holding the chair so tightly. With a tight smile he shook his head, he watched her blush, her hands winding her hair in a shy gesture, she obviously knew he was lying but didn't say anything more.

"What have I told you about touching people without permission, Ece? And stop biting other girls." Yusuf said matter of factly, inspecting the cut once more and deeming it 'not too bad', "Keep that on your neck a little longer to help the swelling, you will love though." The older Assassin stood up from his chair and stretched out his back, "This was easier when I was younger..."

A chorus of, "When were you ever young?" came from his children and Yusuf grumbled under his breath that he should have drowned them when they were babies, "Father," Karamat spoke up, "What about the search party?"

"Get a fresh shift; if he dragged himself out of the water he is more likely to wait until dark to move in a strange place." They were speaking of Matteo, it was a pointless search but the Master was doing it for Ezio's sake. "Karamat, take Ece to bed and go home to your wife, I need you alert for any gossip you hear tomorrow. Ezio," The Italian nodded and went ahead of the man towards the library, they had things to discuss and Yusuf followed him, turning to the two before he vanished, Yusuf shrugged, "Welcome home."

Devrim and Giovanni were left alone in the room, the older man moving behind Giovanni's chair and kissing the cut on his lover's right temple, "You handled that well, my little sister never thinks before she does something...you did not even have a panic attack." He kissed his lips gently when Giovanni tipped his head up to offer them, "Are you alright?"

Giovanni shrugged a little, he felt numb and cold, still dazed from this morning's events and wandering what had happened. He felt Devrim rest his head on top of his and shuddered as his thoughts turned downward, Matteo was lost out there in the dark; he still thought that he was angry at him...he must be feeling lonely too. Feeling the tears stinging his eyes, Giovanni tried to hold them in, "Hey, it is alright," The Turk hugged him tightly, "You are scared for Matteo...he will be fine...he is stronger than you think."

Giovanni nearly laughed, his twin had had the bomb in his hand, he was holding it when it exploded. It seemed so final and even though Devrim was holding him, he wanted his brother. The Italian turned in the chair and pulled the Turk down for a kiss, wanting something to dull the pain, even if it was just for a little while. Devrim seemed to understand and his hand wandered down the gap in Giovanni's still damp clothes, pinching a nipple and catching the gasp in his mouth.

"Ahem." Someone had come into the room whilst they were busy with each other and watched with fascination as the two men practically jumped a foot in the air and parted, Devrim nearly falling into the fireplace and Giovanni knocking the chair under a table. They stood at attention, stunned looks matching as they looked at the intruder.

Devrim choked out his words with difficulty, "Baba! You nearly gave me a heart attack! Sneaky old fucker!" his fingers carded through his hair and he breathed a massive sigh. "I nearly fell into the fire! Fuck..."

Next to him, Giovanni still hadn't moved, he had never been caught with a man before and he really didn't know what to do, "Relax, Giovanni...he knows."

"Maybe so but I can not deal with you kissing boys in the main room, if you are going to go at it like rabbits, please do so in your bedroom." Yusuf picked up the papers he had forgotten and shook his head of the image, he was fine with it, really he was but it was weird...really weird. It was amusing how they had nearly killed themselves when he let them know of his presence though, even the 'scared deer' impression Ezio's son was doing was funny. "All he told me of you was that he was going to make you his personal sex slave."

Giovanni's head snapped to pin a glare on Devrim, "I did not! Baba," Too late did Devrim notice the teasing glint in his father's eyes, "I am going to kill you!"

"I am sure you did and what was the other thing...?" It was a wind up but the predatory look in Giovanni's eyes as Devrim squirmed was the best, "And no gag reflex, that must be wonderful."

"I said nothing about that! I did not even know that!" Devrim pointed an accusing finger at his father and leaned away from Giovanni as the man blushed red and his jaw dropped, "He is making it up!"

Tipping his head back and laughing, Yusuf leaned against the door frame victorious at embarrassing them both to the point of pointing fingers and goldfish mouths, "Too easy! You are so easy to wind up, Dev, and your boyfriend has such an adorable little blush," He watched the Italian stare down at his boots, humiliated to the point of nearly combusting, "Do not worry, he told me nothing, I only know about your gag reflex because we tried to make you puke the water up and it did not work, your father told me." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Devrim picking up things to throw at him, "Well, I need to go – enjoy the sex," a shoe bounced off the door frame as the man escaped.

00

Ezio laid on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, sleep would not come to him tonight or any night until he at least could bury his son and then he would have nightmares. Why did he follow? He should have stayed in Roma. Why did that boy have to follow him to another country, he was not a child, he was an independent adult... He never planned to outlive either of his children and Matteo had been too young by far...stupid, stupid boy, should have stayed at home!

Ezio sat up suddenly and looked at the intruder in his room, the single candle hardly illuminating them, "Matteo?" The figure stepped further into the room and Ezio's hope was crushed, "Giovanni...Is something wrong?" He couldn't think of one time his youngest son had ever come to him on his own, maybe Yusuf sent him, maybe they had found something, "Give me a moment and I...will..."

Giovanni wasn't listening to him, not really, he got onto the bed, his back towards his father but resting against the Assassin's side, "...Vanni? What is wrong?" He hadn't wanted to cry in front of Devrim again, didn't want to show him how broken and lost he was without his twin – that nothing in the world would ever fit the gaping hole Matteo left behind. So he came to his father instead, came to a man who had lost his own brothers and who would understand his pain, who was as heart broken as he was. Curling up into himself further, Giovanni couldn't stop the sobs racking through him.

"Shh," Ezio pulled the boy against him, rocking him as if he were a little child again, "I will not lie to you. The pain you feel now, it will never go away, it might dull with time but it will always hurt...You will survive it." Giovanni didn't think he could but for now he wasn't so lonely as he held onto Ezio harder than he ever had, harder than he'd held onto Leonardo at his mother's funeral and he wasn't going to ever let go.

00

After spending the morning in the dark hideout Devrim had decided to drag Giovanni outside before his melancholy affected everyone else. The Italian had seemed reluctant to go but once he had been pushed out into the bright street, he stood in awe; Constantinople was beautiful, it was busy and bright and noisy and it smelled amazing. Giovanni had never seen so much colour, "That is Gelata Tower."Devrim said when he noticed it held the man's golden gaze "We are going to climb it – it is practically tradition all guests do so, but first," He pulled out an arm bracer from behind his back, waiting since early morning to give it to the man, "Your very own hook blade, I have been told to have you trained how to use this by the end of the day." He pulled another blade out and shrugged a little, "Your father had them commissioned, he was going to send them to you and your brother for your birthdays, one is left handed and one is right...I am embarrassed to admit I do not know which you are." It was a novice mistake, he should have observed with hand the twins favoured but he was always so busy wanting to pounce Giovanni he just didn't notice.

Giovanni gave him a weak smile, took the right handed bracer and studied it carefully, the engravings were beautiful and it surprised the Italian that his father knew exactly what he liked. He held his hand out for the other bracer and studied that one as he had his own, smiling a little at the different engravings, personalised for them both. He gave it back and watched Devrim jog back to the headquarters, returning quickly and helping him strap the bracer on, "I do not know why Mentor Auditore wants you to learn how to use it right away but I am not going to argue with him, I saw him training this morning and decided to never upset him – he is pretty scary." Giovanni snorted in amusement, his throat too raw to do much else, though he had missed the Turk's bright personality, they had only been apart for the night but Devrim had been so understanding, not asking him why he had left their room in the night, not coddling him and instead acting as if everything was normal. Devrim grinned boyishly, "If you are a good student I might reward you." After about an hour of showing him the best things to hook onto and a few tips and tricks he knew. Devrim spotted his younger brother watching them from a corner and called out to him quickly before the assassin flitted away, "Oi, Karamat! Hook up!" And he ran at the other, hook blade extending as he used it to flip over his brother's back and carry on a few paces before his brother returned the favour unexpectedly.

"I am not a training dummy." Karamat huffed indignantly. He was the same height as his brother, his face a little thinner and his eyes the same grey as the rest of the Tazim family; perhaps Devrim had his mother's eyes? Karamat was handsome too but not like Devrim. Devrim was a little bit rugged and his personality wild, his brother was much better presented and seemed to be very patient to put up with his older brother's teasing. "Dev, unhook me or I tell my wife you made me late."

The older brother retracted the hook and held up his hands, "She will eat me alive – go and keep her happy...and stop getting her pregnant." Devrim watched the other retreat quickly, "And that is a - whoa!" Giovanni ran at him, executing the same move, landing a little wobbly but it was a good first attempt; especially as it left Devrim wide eyed. "Good, that move is useful when you need to go through a guard and there is no wall to kick off from. I do not think I even need to ask if you are ready to climb the tower." At the Italian's ready nod they walked to the base but Giovanni hesitated a moment. "What is it? Too high?"

The younger man gestured to the people milling around, going about their daily lives, it seemed rather careless, people would see them and surely the guards would notice.

"Oh..." Devrim seemed to realise what he meant, "No, it is fine!" The Turk assured him, "Gelata is the Ottoman brotherhood's. We kind of own it or we are really territorial, can never remember which, but anyone who lives here...well, they do not see us – if you can understand that?" It had always been that way, ever since he was a toddler hanging onto his mother's skirt, watching with the biggest eyes as his father climbed the tower, no one around him seeming to notice or think it odd and all he could think was, 'will they be angry if Baba makes a big splat?'. The Assassins protected the people and they protected the Assassins. "I will meet you at the top!" and he was gone, eight foot off the ground before Giovanni could blink.

Giovanni followed and struggled with the limited handholds available, still unsure of his new hook blade and its sturdiness. Devrim had deliberately slowed to allow him to catch up, suggesting good places to hold onto and where he needed to adjust his grip. Matteo would have been faster, not caring whether the hook would hold or not, would be laughing and teasing him for being so cautious...He would have... Giovanni's fingers slipped on a ledge as his thoughts wandered to his twin, almost imagining he was there with them. "Giovanni!" The Italian heard scrabbling above him as air whooshed up and felt a sudden jolt as his free fall came to a halt, his hands holding onto a metal grate in the stone where he had grabbed at the first thing available. "Shit! I thought you were going to fall!" Devrim climbed down beside him, concern clear on his face, "I thought this would be a good distraction for you..."

It felt like he had a shadow in the corner of his eye,Like his brother was climbing beside him and the thought stung his eyes. He knew Devrim could see the tears welling up and he swallowed hard as he tried to compose himself, "Giovanni?" Putting on his best attempt at a smile the Italian began climbing with more confidence, his speed gaining as he concentrated on his next holding. Ignoring the other man tailing him like a kicked puppy in case he slipped again. They kept climbing until both pulled their bodies over the lip of the tower, laying out on the roof, staring at the blue sky above them as he huffed and puffed; his lover equally out of breath but there was a rasp in his breathing that Giovanni didn't like. Sitting up the Italian moved to look at the man with worry, "Just sore, güzel."

"By climbing a little tower?" Both men jumped at the sound of Yusuf's voice – how did he keep sneaking up on them? Even worse was that Ezio was stood beside him with a smug look, "Do not look at us like that, we were here first, right?" The older Italian nodded and they meandered over to the boys. Yusuf grabbed Devrim's proffered hand and dragged his son up to stand, he had not properly looked at Devrim yesterday because of the drama going on but in the harsh sun light he could see all the changes.

Devrim's hair, which used to be loose, was pulled back in a loose tail, a teal band keeping the unruly, shoulder length waves of hair out of the way, except for a few strands that escaped. Where there was once a bearded chin was now a ruggedly stubbled jaw line – when had he gotten so manly? There was no way his son was this broad when he left, "Did you get a job as a dock worker?"

"Someone has to move crates around and it was a good information spot, besides, everyone loves a man with strong arms." He flexed a little until his father gave him a playful shove.

Yusuf rolled his eyes, "Your ego has grown." What else was different? Ah, he was thinner, he only noticed because the man's robes were a little loose. "You lost weight too...you do not even look that much like me any more."

"Sorry about that, the stressed, old man look was not doing it for me." Devrim had hoped his father wouldn't look too closely at his weight loss but what could he do? The man was a master for a reason, "I have not felt much like eating, Baba, do not have new robes made for me yet, it is only temporary."

"_Si_, that reminds me," Ezio piped up, his arms crossing over his chest as he pinned a serious look at his own son, "How exactly did he get hurt?"

Giovanni glanced at Devrim and Devrim's eyes darted about as he thought quickly. What were they supposed to say? Matteo punched the Turk so hard that it caused internal bleeding, then Matteo gave him a medicine which poisoned him and nearly killed him? "I had an allergic reaction to jimson weed." Devrim stared at his boots as he felt the two Masters look at him – their eyes boring into him almost painfully until he cracked a little, "It was only a little fight, then I might not of said anything...for a few days...please stop looking at me like I am a mouse about to be eaten...please. Gigi, make them stop."

Giovanni opened his mouth to add to the story but there was really no point, so he also stared at his boots. Devrim's father made an upward gesture with his fingers and Devrim silently obeyed as he undid his robes and pulled the under shirt up to bare the bruising on his skin. It had lessened over the weeks but still looked terrible.

"_Budala_!" Yusuf snapped angrily as he looked at the damage, "You should be resting! Not running around and climbing! What if you bleed again? Do not think you will be as lucky as the first time, that a little bit of medicine will help you?" The Turk wanted to slap the boy for being so stupid, "You are grounded."

"I am a grown man, you can not ground me!" Devrim baulked at the idea, Giovanni put a hand on Devrim's shoulder and avoided eye contact, "Seriously? You are supposed to be on my side, Gigi! You treated me; I am fine it just feels a little tender..."

Yusuf threw his arm around Giovanni's shoulders and pulled him into a half hug, "Ha! I knew I liked this boy! He has a more sensible head on his shoulders than you." He could see Devrim winding up to argue and when someone climbed over the lip of the tower, Yusuf was quick to let go of Giovanni and hold a finger up to silence his son before he even started, "What is it?"

The assassin novice straightened as he addressed his mentor, "All the bodies have been pulled from the water, there are people who have been treated at the dock along with the bodies...I thought Mentor Auditore would want to know."

00

Ezio looked at the faces of men and women, some injured, some in a state of shock as they waited for relatives to come for them. Matteo was not among them and he turned to the rows of bodies waiting to be claimed; he hoped he would not find his son in the morbid line up but it was foolish to hope. "Vanni, stay here...better yet, go with Devrim and check around the area for any sign of your brother." He might as well have said; stay here while I go find your twin's corpse by the crestfallen look on his son's face. He tapped Giovanni's chin, "Please." He received a stuttered nod and watched them walk away before turning to the bodies. The first line were all drown victims, some already with grieving relatives around them, the next line were people who had been burned in the blast, sailors, men...a sad little bundle that had been a small child, someone having lovingly covered the body in a brightly coloured blanket.

The condition of the bodies got worse and worse until they were unrecognisable, his only comfort was that Matteo had not been in any of the lines. Giovanni returned to him after searching the area, he looked at one of the drowned bodies and saw it was the blonde Matteo had spent so many nights with, Devrim seemed to recognise her too, "Poor girl...she did not deserve this."

"None of them did." Ezio cast one more glance at the scene and breathed out heavily, "Maybe he did swim out...he is not – Giovanni?" The young man pushed past his father and headed straight for a body at the end of the line, every body here was burned so badly it was hard to tell if they were male or female but this one...it had a ring glinting off the sun on its right, ring finger, "Giovanni!"

Giovanni crouched beside the charred remains, reaching out to carefully examine the ring, rubbing ash from its surface. "No..." his voice trembled as he called out to the younger man. Feeling Ezio crouch beside him and study the piece of gold, Giovanni fell against his side heavily, "It is his ring..."

Devrim pulled Giovanni up bodily before he fell down completely against his father, "Giovanni, look at me." He turned his lover and gave him a little shake, begging for his attention, he could not let this sink into the Italian's head, "You knew what might have happened to him; you have known since yesterday."

The Turk could practically see his lover's mind shutting itself down to protect itself from the discovery; Matteo was unrecognisable. Giovanni slumped against Devrim, legs turning to jelly as everything seemed to go limp, "Güzel, stay with me! Giovanni!" He felt cold all over and everything seemed dampened, two voices calling his name sounded muffled and distorted as his body slowly shut down.

000

A week and a half passed by, the world continuing as normal as if his whole world had not been shaken, his father wore a sombre expression almost all the time, Devrim stayed by his side, talking to him, feeding him and at one point helping him to bathe when he couldn't even bare to get up. The Turk smiled sadly at him but other than that behaved like he wasn't talking to an empty shell, kissing his face when they were alone and holding him close. A familiar scene from years ago in Venice. People talked about him, he could hear them, 'how is he', 'has he said anything' and 'he looks so miserable' were the most frequent. His father had hoped he would snap out of it after they had buried Matteo – no, not his brother – that charred corpse. He kept hold of his brother's ring, gripped tightly in his palm night and day until the crest was imprinted in his skin and his palm bled from the pressure; had he slept at all? He really couldn't tell, he wasn't even sure what day it was.

"Any change?" Devrim looked up from the lifeless eyes of his lover to Ezio, noting how the poor man looked exhausted, "Nothing...he sometimes gets up by himself and does his own thing but even then...nothing." It was breaking his heart to see, "He followed me to the market yesterday, no response or interest in anything around him; like a lost lamb. He was even climbing with me on the rooftops, I thought he was coming back to us."

"...Giovanni." Ezio called out. His son's eyes flitted to him and it was then that the man knew his child was fully aware of his surroundings. Sighing loudly Ezio stroked his son's cheek, "When he was a child, after his mother died, Giovanni would behave like this, he functioned but stayed silent and almost unresponsive...he shuts out the world and builds walls around himself. But he is fully aware of what is going on, he listens and carries on...he is on auto pilot."

Devrim looked at Giovanni with surprise; he had been aware for how long? Was this what he was to expect from now on? "How do I get my – our Giovanni back?"

"Last time a horse kicked out at Matteo and Giovanni seemed to wake up, running for help and looking after his brother until he woke. I think he was so frightened of losing someone else that he decided he would rather live life than observe it. He just needs to find that will again." It would happen, it might take a while but his children always bounced back, Giovanni was strong, he had been through worse – someone had cut his throat and he had lived. "You are a good friend to him, Devrim, I can see why Matteo would be jealous enough to fight with you – Do not look so surprised, I know...knew..." That hurt to say, "I knew Matteo inside and out, always had to have Giovanni by his side even if Giovanni did not want to do what he was doing. He used to scare off anyone who got too friendly with his brother...probably why Giovanni is shy. He would never have hit you that hard on purpose, he was not a bad kid."

"I know that, mentor, he was protecting Giovanni and he was quick to help me. I am just sorry I could not save him, I wish I had seen the bastards that threw that bomb." No one knew who was responsible for the attack, only that it was most likely someone trying to destroy the evidence Devrim had, the year he had spent collecting information and stealing those documents was for nothing. The evidence burned or at the bottom of the sea. "I should have done more..."

000

Another two days passed, Devrim trying harder and harder to get a reaction from Giovanni, something more than the occasional nod and sleeping close to him at night. Every time the Turk had thought he'd gotten somewhere with his lover something happened to set them back. He had never felt so helpless before, he could not fix this, Giovanni might as well be dead too! And he could not watch the lifeless doll the Italian had become any more. Leaving Giovanni in the library, Devrim headed up the stairs and opened the bomb making cabinet, it would distract him for now.

"You look depressed, _oğlum_," Devrim couldn't believe he did not even notice his father sat next to the cabinet at the table, fiddling with a new casing. Was he really that distracted? "It must be hard seeing him like that, especially as you have been together for so little time...you have been trying so hard with him but you look exhausted, Dev." Yusuf swore as he accidentally pricked his finger on a caltrop, just as distracted by his son's misery. "Maybe you should let someone else babysit him for a little while, you will only slow down your own recovery if you overwork yourself."

"He does not need a babysitter, he is worth every bit of trouble but..." He exhaled loudly, dragging out a few ingredients, "I do not think I can...I...I really like him, Baba. It was supposed to be a little bit of fun, a distraction but...maybe I was wrong? I do not know what drew me to him, maybe the way he looked at me or just...sometimes it is nice to feel needed, right? He does not want anything from me, he does not expect me to do things for him, he gets no gain from being my lover – he wants me."

"Is it hard to believe that someone can adore you too? Because when I walked in on you two; I saw the heartache on your face at his misery. I also saw the way he worried over your injuries...Can you not except that maybe, just maybe, Giovanni is falling in love with you? If you did not feel the same way, would not spend every second with him trying to heal him?"

"I do not want to be hurt again...How do you know this will turn out well?"

Yusuf shrugged, "I am your father, I know you and pretty much everything else in the world. Devrim, just because something is hard does not mean you should give up...Do not leave something you want for the wrong reasons."

After those words of wisdom, Yusuf was called away and Devrim worked silently for a few hours, making enough bombs to restock his little brothers and maybe a few spare. He knew he wanted Giovanni, the man with the sweetest smile and the brightest eyes, the man who cared for him the whole time he was ill and who lit up passionately as they shared their bodies. Ezio had said Giovanni would get better, Devrim just had to hold onto that...breaking apart because Giovanni was sad wasn't the right reason to leave. Hearing the stair's creak behind him, Devrim turned and almost dropped the bomb he was holding, "Gigi? What are you doing here?"

"Leading me to you." Behind the Italian was a very old acquaintance. "Your father is unavailable and this...alluringly quiet, little thing, has led me to you," the new assassin let the backs of his fingers brush against Giovanni's jaw, smiling as the Italian jerked his face away and Devrim stood suddenly, the stool he had been sitting on clattering to the floor.

"Keep your fucking hands off him, Iram. You should not even be in this district!" Giovanni looked perturbed, stepping closer to Devrim and wondering if he had been wrong to let this man follow him. "My father told you not to come back here." His animosity toward the new comer seemed to have bought something out of Giovanni.

The man shrugged, "I was sent by a lieutenant, your father will just have to like it." His brown eyes looked Giovanni up and down, a smug grin working its way on his face, "Are you worried I will upset your little boyfriend? Or are you still broken hearted because I fucked you and left – you just were not as good as I had hoped. How do you find him?" The question was directed at the Italian but Devrim bristled sharply. Stepping closer only to have Giovanni's hand rest against his chest to stop the advance.

"I apologise I was such a bad lay, Iram," Devrim put his hand over his heart and bowed slightly, "I am also sorry that my father beat the living day lights out of you because you were one 'no' away from rape. Now kindly fuck off and die." He grabbed Giovanni's wrist with every intention of walking away from the man but Iram grabbed his upper arm on the way past, "Get off me."

"I do not think I will." Devrim was certain the man would have said more, something that would hurt him but the Assassin was yanked away violently, the hand that had been on Devrim's arm was grabbed and twisted awkwardly until it cracked. Devrim watched as Giovanni ignored the pained yell as he shoved his victim down on the cabinet's table, the newly made bombs wobbling from the force.

00

"Ezio."

"I know, Yusuf, I know."

"He broke his arm, broke all five fingers and his elbow. I am certain that Iram deserved it but I can not let this slide, Ezio." The Ottoman Mentor rubbed his face in frustration, "I need to know I can trust your son, I can not have him here if he is unstable...my novices are here, my children are here."

"Giovanni would not hurt any of them!" Devrim piped up, "Iram grabbed me and Giovanni restrained him, it was a provoked attack – Giovanni was protecting me, Baba!"

Yusuf held a hand up to silence the younger man, "Giovanni broke his fingers, that is not restraining, that was malicious. I would not let even you get away with such violence against our own."

Ezio then spoke up, his head in his hands as he tried to find a solution, "He has never done anything like this before, I can only put it down to him losing Matteo, seeing his brother's body like that has skewered his perception – Devrim is his only friend in a strange country and maybe he was frightened of someone else close to him getting hurt." Giovanni was sat at the desk in the library, Ezio knew the boy was listening to the three of them argue over what to do with him, "I will abide by your decisions, Yusuf, this is your brotherhood but please consider what he has been through. I can not send him home in this state; not alone."

Devrim grabbed his father's hand in both his and squeezed gently, knowing that Ezio's Turkish was not the best and that if he spoke fast enough his words would go over the man's head for something that was shameful for the Turk, "It was mostly my fault, if I had not become so hostile with Iram, I bought up what Iram had done to earn my hate, Giovanni was protecting me as I would have him...you would have done the same if you ever found out someone had raped mother. I am begging you, Baba, "He rested his forehead against his father's hand, still holding on desperately as he dropped to his knees, "Begging you on my knees to please not send him away or punish him severely – I will take the blame, I will take any punishment you see fit...please, Baba, please."

What was he supposed to do? Iram was demanding blood for the injury, however he did not want to punish the young Auditore knowing that he was not in his right mind, that he was protecting his son...that his son was on his knees begging. Devrim had never begged for anything in his life and it was painful to see. "...If something like this happens again then I will be forced to make him leave, I can understand why he did this, I can understand that he is acting on instinct as all reasonable thought seems to have left him...he needs to get some semblance of self control, I will explain to my lieutenant that Giovanni is grieving and that Iram was asking for it. I can only hope that will smooth things over." He considered Giovanni for a long moment and spoke up, "I want all of your weapons, you are not to carry any in this district until I can trust you again...Do you understand, Giovanni?"

Giovanni nodded, immediately removing his bracers, his daggers, sword, boot knives anything that was part of his arsenal went onto the table without hesitation. Willing to do anything Yusuf asked of him without question, he wanted to open his mouth and say he was sorry over and over, he wanted to make Devrim get up off the floor and he wanted his father not to look so conflicted. He couldn't though, so he sat silently.

00

Devrim watched Giovanni sit in front of his twin's grave with a horrid twist in his gut. Reminding himself that it was for the best, that he had done this for the right reasons and that he was not a terrible human being. Even as tears distorted his vision and silent sobs racked his body – he did it for the right reasons!

"_Gigi?" They had returned to Devrim's room after Giovanni had given up his weapons, both their fathers seemed disturbed by that night's events and both had left the two alone, perhaps to smooth over the mess or reflect on where they went wrong with their children. No sooner had the bedroom door shut that Giovanni put his hands on the Turk's face and kissed him. It was hollow, devoid of any fire and Devrim was certain it tasted sad. And then his fingers were undoing clothing, feeling warm skin as he simulated what had usually been an alluring start to foreplay. "I...I can not do this, Gigi...I need to settle my nerves." He tried to hold onto the wandering hands, tried to turn away from the kisses, "Please, stop..."_

_The Italian wasn't listening, he walked them to the bed, sitting down on it and pulling Devrim down over him. Mouth systematically leaving marks on a dark neck, undoing his own clothing, "Giovanni I can not do this to you, you are not thinking properly...and I...I..."_

_Devrim shivered in repulsion, dead, golden eyes stared up at him with so much pain he couldn't stand it. "No." He pulled away, untangling himself from the Italian and backing towards the door, "I am sorry, I can not do this..I can not let you degrade yourself just to feel like you are complete again. I...I can not hurt myself like this either. I am not what you need and I..." He didn't want to give up on this man but he had to, if he played along then Giovanni would become dependant on him and maybe never get better; Devrim would be no better than Iram. His father said to never give something up for the wrong reasons – he had to do this for all the right ones. "I do not want you any more. We can not be lovers any more because...I...have no interest – you are too broken for me."_

He had not meant any of it, he would watch over Giovanni from afar but he could not become the man's crutch. And as the Italian sat in front of the grave like a statue, tears silently falling, looking every bit like a child who was lost, Devrim had to tell himself again that this was for Giovanni's own good. But what was to stop him from finding someone else to latch onto? He did not want to watch the other crash and burn.

Turning away and letting his feet lead him to his father's door, Devrim knocked and entered with his head hung low, "Baba..." Yusuf left his maps on the table and beckoned his son into his arms, "I need to leave, go back to Cyprus or..." His father hugged him tightly as he struggled to make himself clear.


End file.
